Evie Birth Story

A about two weeks ago, Evie's guardians texted me to let me know that they weren't sure if Evie was pregnant or not, she hadn't really gained any weight and her stomach didn't look much larger than normal. I told them that sometimes dog really seem

to 'pop' in the last two weeks, and we could wait and see what happens. A few days before I was supposed to meet them to get Evie, they texted me again and said that she did look pregnant now but still wasn't as big as she had been in the past. I picked her up from them on Monday, April 13th, and she was due on Thursday, April 16th.

Upon picking her up I also noted that she did not look very big at all, while it was obvious she was pregnant, I guessed she was probably only having 4-5 puppies.

She settled in well at the house and wasn't showing any signs of labor Monday, Tuesday, and most of the day Wednesday. However, on Wednesday evening I noticed she was whining a lot and wanting to go outside continuously to use the bathroom.

This can often be a sign that labor is near, and Momma is mistaking the feeling of puppies, with needing to do a bowel movement. I set up a kennel in my bedroom with whelping supplies incase she went into labor during the night. And around 10:30 I heard what sounded like a puppy crying. At this time, I had not yet gone to sleep, and at first I thought it was the video I was watching on my phone, because Evie had not given any signs of being in active labor. She had been laying down quietly. So I muted my phone and listened again, I was trying to be quiet because Andrew was asleep next to me. I heard the crying again. I quickly got up, and moved Evie's kennel into our ensuite bathroom, shut our bedroom door, and flipped on the light, and to my surprise, I didn't see a puppy anywhere. I thought I must be going crazy. Maybe the sound I heard had been my phone afterall and I heard a 'phantom cry' after I muted my phone? I was looking all around Evie and could't see anything and she was curled up in a circle just staring at me, calm as can be. Finally I called her name to get her to stand up, and low and behold, there was a puppy hanging out of her! The placenta was still inside Evie, so the puppy, while it's entire body was out, was just dangling in the air. I had Evie lay back down and let her naturally push the placenta out on her own. This is Evie's third litter so she knows what to do!

After the first puppy came out, she had the second almost immediately - and then the remaining four also followed relatively fast. I was very surprised to see six puppies in total, and all female! I stayed up with her for an extra hour after the last puppy arrived just to make sure she was done, but I was pretty confident six was our final count.

In between puppies arriving, I blowed dried each puppy to dry them off quickly so they didn't catch a chill. Once everyone had arrived, I changed out the bedding, gave Evie fresh water and some calcium, hopped in the shower, and went to bed! I was woken up bright and early at 5:00 AM by my son asking him to make him pancakes. After checking Evie and all six of her puppies (all doing well!) I got up, made my kiddos breakfast.

Then, I headed out to our rec room to let the puppies out, and feed them breakfast. After everyone was taken care of, and my kids were safely on the bus, I crawled back into bed and slept until 11:00 AM. Tonight - perhaps we will do it all over again with Maylin's litter! As she was due yesterday, but so far, no puppies yet!