18Sep
I was so excited for Willow and Enzo’s litter.
There was, however, a small part of me that worried. What if Willow developed gastro again? What if we faced the same struggles we did with her previous litter?
I knew what happened last time was incredibly poor luck and awful timing, but those experiences stay with you. As the weeks passed and I watched a happy, healthy Willow progress through her pregnancy, the worry gradually eased and the excitement took over.
Eventually, the day came. Willow’s first stage of labour lasted a long time — longer than I am used to with my other girls — but I stayed beside her, watching and waiting. Willow has a habit of having her babies in the early hours, and true to form, that was when her contractions finally began.
Then her first puppy started to arrive. It quickly became clear that something wasn’t right. The puppy was stuck. Willow pushed and pushed, the sac had broken, and only one little back leg was visible. Then I watched that leg begin to turn blue. It felt like an eternity, although I know in reality I reacted very quickly. I was ready to call the vet, but with gloves, lubricant and everything I had prepared beside the whelping box, I helped Willow and managed to deliver her first baby. Because of the colour of that tiny leg, I had already started mentally preparing myself for the worst.
When she came out, she looked as though she had been born sleeping. She was dark blue, stiff and showed no obvious signs of life. But I couldn't give up on her. I started working on her immediately.
There was a horrible thought in the back of my mind that this might be the first puppy I had ever lost during a birth like this. Any loss would devastate me, but knowing she was also Enzo’s very first puppy made it feel even harder. I tried everything I knew while contacting the vets — and, at the same time, Willow was continuing to labour.
Honestly, it was hard. At one point I wished I could clone myself just so I had another pair of hands. Thankfully, Willow's next girls were smaller and arrived much more easily. They only needed a little help clearing fluid before they were quickly wriggling, feeding and doing exactly what newborn puppies should do.
Meanwhile, I was still working on our first girl. Eventually I reached for Life Drops. They are something I had never wanted to need, and I had heard people describe the reaction to them as being similar to putting something extremely spicy on the tongue. But at that point I felt I had exhausted my other options. So I gave her a drop. And she screamed.
It was loud, relentless and frightening — but she was alive.
I remember feeling incredibly frustrated while speaking to the vets because they seemed to assume this was my first litter and were giving me very basic advice that wasn't relevant to what was happening in front of me.
I just kept going.
Our little girl, eventually named Juno by my youngest son, needed a lot of support. I even had to help stimulate her to toilet as the stress seemed to have upset her digestive system. Then, after what felt like forever, she stopped gasping and latched onto Willow. She stopped screaming and drank. There really aren't words for the relief I felt in that moment. I did it. I had genuinely thought I was going to lose her, but somewhere underneath the panic I had kept hold of that little bit of hope.
Eventually, Willow and I had welcomed five daughters into the world — I triple-checked thinking how can I have 5 girls.
Of course, life doesn't stop because there are newborn puppies in the house. Alongside caring for Willow and her girls, I still have the rest of the pack, my sons and a house to keep going.
Ivy is also a huge priority for me at the moment. She needs daily exercises to strengthen her leg and encourage her to distribute her weight evenly across all four legs. Her rehabilitation can't simply be put on hold because I'm tired, so we keep going. And tired is probably an understatement! I'm doing everything on very little sleep.
Willow needs feeding throughout the night as well as the day, she needs taking outside during the night, and the puppies have been wanting to feed more frequently than I am used to. I've increased Willow's food again to make sure she has everything she needs while feeding five rapidly growing girls.
As if the timing couldn't have been better, in the days leading up to Willow's labour I had also convinced myself that my TMJ had flared up again. It hadn't- It was a tooth infection. I struggled to get an appointment with my usual dentist, and eventually a desperate Google search led me to an emergency dentist. An X-ray showed the infection and finally explained why I had been in so much pain. The tooth was a molar that had caused problems for years and, quite frankly, I had had enough and told them to take it out. I hadn't been sleeping properly because of the toothache and all I wanted was to get myself well before Willow needed me. I couldn't quite believe the timing when Willow started going into labour the following day. A day before I realised Emma was had a UTI- just when the car was at the garage for the MOT and service. I had to send someone on the train to the vets with Emma.
Apparently my life had decided that one major event at a time would simply be too easy!
Now, with the puppies just over a week old and gaining weight beautifully, Willow eating incredibly well, my gum healing and Ivy looking stronger, Emma clearly getting better, I finally feel as though I can see the other side of what has been an exhausting couple of weeks.
I have hope that everything is slowly falling into place.
Next week is another big one. Ivy has both hydrotherapy and physiotherapy, and I am desperately hoping for positive news. Ultimately, I need to find her the very best family. Letting her go is going to be incredibly difficult. She has become such a big part of our lives during her recovery, but I keep reminding myself what I want for her long-term: a wonderful home where she can have lots of individual attention and somebody who absolutely adores her. Knowing she is happy will mean everything to me.
Raven is also booked in for her spay, and all I need now is for her not to synchronise her season with Alaska, who has inconveniently decided to start showing signs that hers may be on the way!
So, yes...There are a lot of moving pieces in this house at the moment. I'm exhausted. I'm running on broken sleep. Some days feel as though I am constantly moving from one dog, puppy, child or job to the next. But Juno is here. Her sisters are thriving. Willow is well. Ivy is getting stronger. My tooth pain is finally gone. And right now, that feels like plenty to be grateful for.
I'm just hoping the next chapter is a slightly quieter one.
~ Claire 🐾