PUPPIES!!!!!!!!!

So to continue my story from the last post, Ellie had been in labor for about 4 hours before I finally called the vet. Here is a picture of her at about 3:30 AM...pre puppies... we were both exhausted? Can you tell by her face?

When we arrived at the pet hospital, I was freaking out. If you remember from the previous post, Ellie had some big black ball looking thing hanging outside of her, and I had no idea what it was. Luckily the nurse immediately informed me that it was just the amniotic sac, not a puppy. Whew!

They decided to give Ellie some medicine to try to make her contractions harder which would hopefully push the puppies out. It didn't work. We waited for about 45 minutes and nothing changed... and Ellie just looked pitiful because she had been pushing that entire time and was exhausted. They took an X-Ray of her and determined that one of the puppies heads might be too big for the birth canal. We had two options: Try to wait it out and see if mother nature takes over, which could risk losing both Ellie and the puppies lives, or let Ellie have a C-section. We chose the latter choice. They brought us the money quote... which was bad...but honestly not as bad as we had expected; we signed some papers and they took her away. They actually told us that we could leave the hospital and they would call us when they were ready. It felt so weird leaving without her...but we chose to go back and try to catch a few hours of sleep.

When we woke up, I could hardly stand it. I wanted to get to the hospital ASAP to see Ellie and the puppies! We got ready really fast and headed that way. We did not expect to have to wait as long as we did. We waited, and waited, and waited. The pet hospital was soooo busy. I never dreamed it would be like that. There wasn't a single person in there at 5:30 in the morning, but by 12 there were people and pets EVERYWHERE! and that meant, we had to wait our turn. Here is a picture of me and Ben in the waiting room...

They finally brought her out and my jaw just dropped. The puppies were sooo tiny and Ellies scar was much worse than I expected. She was shivering and looked like she had been hit by a bus.... She could barely hold her head up. Poor thing had such a rough morning...Here we are in the car... See what I mean by Ellie's head?

And here are the puppies!! I forgot to mention that she only had 2 puppies!! and both are boys!

I know, I know. They really aren't THAT cute right now. They actually look like little rats or hamsters. haha They have no hair and look so pink... and since their eyes aren't open... they just look strange. But, they are cute because they are soooo tiny. They will begin to get cuter and cuter as they grow!! just wait!

Ellie didn't have such a great morning. Because she had a C-section, I don't think she really knew what was going on. She did NOT like the puppies AT ALL. She tried so hard to get away from them. If I was sitting with her, she would sit there and let them nurse, but the second I moved she took off and left the puppies alone. She looked so miserable too. She coudln't hold her head up or her eyes open...and she just had such a miserable and painful look on her face.

Here she is after I forced her to sit there and let the puppies nurse for a little bit.

In this next one, she had fallen asleep on her own. While she was asleep, I brought the puppies over so they could nurse without her being fully aware of it.

Check out this video below to see just how pitiful our little Ellie was. You will see what I mean when I say she couldn't hold her head up or her eyes open... It's so sad...She was so sick.

Ellie seems to be doing a little better now. She is at least eating a couple of pieces of food now (this is her first bite in 2 days!!), and Ben and I actually saw her lick one of her puppies for the first time just a second ago! It was just one lick and then she ran away, but hey thats a start! I went and bought doggie bottles and formula to feed the puppies in case they don't get enough from their mama.... I'm hoping that as Ellie begins to feel better she will fulfill her role as the mama dog! Until then, I guess Grandma Christen must come to the rescue!!

Stay tuned for more and better pictures later!!