The stork has landed :)

Xena went into labour on 8/9/2015. She had milk discharge about 7.45 p.m. Stage one was long and not much happened. I spent the night in the whelping area with her, with my son coming out as well in the wee hours of the morning to keep me company and supply much needed coffee.

At about 3.45 a.m. on 9/9/2015 I decided to get advice from a 24 hour vet clinic. I had contacted them earlier in the night and told them stage 1 had commenced. You can imagine my reaction when I was told at 3.45 that there was no vet available there toinight and i would need to travel a fair distance to get to a vet. I checked my girl and she was not stressed. All her signs were good. I knew my vet would be available first thing in the morning.

At 8.00 a.m. I rang my vet clinic and they told me to bring her down straight away. As soon as I walked in the door, Dr Dave came out and greeted me, organised a romom straight away and examined her. He could feel one pup had dropped. After a quick discussion, we agreed to leave her there and induce some drugs that may assist via an I.V. line. He would contact me in 30 mins to let me know how itwent, but we also talked about the possability of a C Section to deliver the pups.

At 9.30 he siad the drugs had no affect on her and believed the C Section was necessary. I trust this bloke so we went with that option. At 11.30 a.m. he phoned me to say they had safely delivered to males. I knew the litter was going to be small but was hoping for at least 3 pups. Then he dropped the bombshell on me. The first pup wieghed 740 grams and the second pup wieghed 700 grams. This is hughe for German Shepherds at birth. To give you an idea of the size, another breeder who looked at photographs of the pups told me they look more like 2 week old pups just on size, not new borns.

My daughter and I collected the pups and took them home. i was a bit worried how Xena would take to them since it was not a natural birth and I had heard this can cause problems. my concerns were quickly dismissed as she licked them and guided them to her so she could feed them.

Needless to say,even though I only have two pups, I am one very happy person. I put the great result down to a fantastic vet team (and their staff) at Gawler South Small Animal Hosppital and lots of advice from some breeder friends. Plus a load of encouragement and support from friends on media sites whn messaged me through the night and day.

So why this sory ends happily, a new story unfolds for the pups and their lives in their respective homes