Midnight Puppy Midwife

Midnight Puppy Midwife

So, if you remember from my past post, I told y'all that Coconut was pregnant and due to have puppies (last month). Yes, I've been keeping y'all up to date haven't I..yeah no. BUT hey! At least I'm finally getting around to telling you guys about it right? Of course right!

So, it was two day before Mom and the Littles would be leaving on their trip to Tennessee, that night Carolina and I had stayed up doing...errmm..doing ya know "stuff" *ahem*, and we didn't actually hit the hay until about 1:00 a.m ish. Little did we know we wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. Rewind to that evening, Coconut was restless and kept going around to all the darkest, most secretest corners of the house and digging (trying to make a nest). We knew she was getting to dropping some puppies, we just didn't know how close.

So fast forward back to that night...long about 2:40 or so, Carolina wakes up and starts screaming at me to wake up. I'm of course wide awake by this time...or not, I'm actually half asleep still, and little 'sis is yelling at me that Coconut is having babies. I think she is exaggerating, but I pull myself up and switch on the lamp, to see Coconut lying on Carolina's bed surrounded by a pool of blood. Me: "OK! I think she is having puppies!" I jump out of bed and rush to Mom's room and wake her up, by the time we got back to our (my) room Coconut had already had her first pup. A solid black, slimy, rat creature it looked like to me, and I began to question if Coconut had really had R.O.U.S (Rodents Of Unusual Size), but no they were truly puppies. We cut it's umbilical cord, and long about 10 minutes later the 2nd puppy appears, another black one. So far she'd had a male (a tiny little runt), and a bigger black female. 

Coconut is still huge fat, so we know she can't possibly be finished. So we wait, and we wait, and wait. She didn't seem to be showing any signs of having another, instead she was happily licking and nursing her two babies. We didn't want to leave her unattended, so we just laid around my room staring at Coconut..that is how we spent 1 1/2 hours. Finally, what seemed like ages, she started having contractions again, and soon another wet, black, male puppy emerged. He was breach, in their backwards, so that was probably why it took him so much longer than the others. We thought perhaps she was finished, but no, here in about an hour she starts with the contractions again, and a little while later a cute little brown puppy is born! Sadly, I missed it's birth because I was outside tending to the birds, and when I came back inside she'd already had it. Most of the next day was spent standing guard over Coconut and her brood, and getting Mom and the Littles packed for their trip. Even though what we really wanted to do was sleep and be lazy after staying up all night. 

The first day went well, she seemed to be nursing them without any trouble, and was an excellent little mother.

The night before Mom and the Littles were going to leave, Carolina and I went to bed, but neither of us could really sleep because every few seconds one of the puppies would start crying, so we'd have to get up, switch on the lamp and see what the issue was. Sometimes there really was a reason for them to scream, other times they would just scream..because they could I suppose. Either way, I didn't sleep, but instead stood puppy watch.

Then at three, I was up again to see Mom and the Littles off on their journey. Then back to bed..only to stand puppy guard again.

Basically, this routine continued for the next 4-5 days. I would get a restless (literally) night of sleep, then have to get up and go the next morning. Since I was the only human being here at the ranch for that week, I had a lot of chores to do! About the gist of it is, I became a sleepless zombie, who ran off adrenaline for the entire week. Truthfully, I'm not sure how I made it, but obviously I did because here I am relating it all to you!

OK, enough jabber. Enjoy the few pictures we took throughout their birth (August 22nd):

 

 Blessings - 

~ Aspen