Sometimes life throws you a curve ball, and you make the most of it.
My co-owners, Mike and Karen, have one of my girls Rosie living with them in TN. We planned to breed Rosie to Nick, our #1 15 inch boy. The breeding took and we anticipated puppies early October.
Unfortunately their daughter, who they live with, got sick and needed to be hospitalized. Whelping Rosie was no longer an option and so Rosie flew home from the National with me to WA. Luckily Rosie has such an easy going nature – nothing bothers her and flying didn’t either.
To make matters more complicated, our family had a pre-planned trip out of town, the weekend she was due – a trip we never would have booked if we had known.
So, i got a treasured and very dog experienced friend to watch my dogs for the weekend. I had her take Rosie to the vet each day for a reverse progesterone draw (if the number is under 2 a c-section is safe to do). Rosie had other ideas and by Friday was still not ready. With my 2 repro vets both out of town, we knew she would have to go naturally. I called a cavalier breeder friend of mine and asked if she would be willing to be on call and thankfully she agreed. So, I felt some comfort knowing that if she went into labor while I was still away that she was in experienced hands.
Saturday morning Rosie started showing some signs of early labor and by mid day she was most definitely in stage 1. I knew I wouldn’t be making it home to see them arrive on Sunday. Around 7:30pm Saturday night, my cavalier breeder friend Susan arrived to support Michelle, and they watched Rosie as she rested, dug, re-position herself and prepared herself for babies. I was super grateful for my “ring” camera so I could log in and see what was going on at very regular basis.
About 11:10pm, I logged into my Ring to watch Rosie pushing and watched the first baby being born. A little girl – flashy white markings just like her momma! She was 7.27oz and perfect.
Baby number 2 came quickly after – about 15 mins later – a baby boy – 7.7oz
Rosie seemed to be on a roll. As soon as the 2 others were dried off and cleaned up, she started pushing again and within 10 mins she had another baby boy. This one was 8.25oz
In true Rosie style, she seemed to want to have them all by midnight, and just before 12, she popped out her 3rd baby boy.
We celebrated. I cried a little because I wasn’t there in person, but grateful it all went well – and cried happy tears that they arrived safe and sound. There wasn’t much more for me to do so i hopped offline and went to sleep.
I woke up in the morning to a message that Rosie had a bonus baby #5 – another boy – 10.97oz – a giant boy. He took an hour to get into position and got stuck on the way out, but thanks to Susan and Michelle he was born safely and is perfectly fine.
So, we ended up with 5 beautiful babies. We feel so blessed that they all arrived safe and sound. I couldn’t wait to meet them only a mere few hours later when i got home. <3 I am so thankful to Michelle and Susan <3
