Whleping Day - Clover's Birth Story

24 hours old.

I have a very hippie view of birth.  Basically I believe that birth is a natural process that works it self out most of the time.  So I settled down with my camera to watch Clover whelp her puppies. 5 minutes later I put it down.  Clover wasn't severing the umbilical cord, eating the placenta, or showing any interest in her puppy.   Her birth was anything but textbook. She wanted to get out of the whelping box, so I let her. Then all of a sudden she popped out another puppy semi-tore open the sac and walked away. 

Puppy number two was covered in meconium, still attached to her placenta and Clover again walked away not at all interested in her second born.  As I was cleaning off puppy number two, her lips started to turn blue and I resorted to CPR.  Bubbles of amniotic fluid came out of her nose and she started to whine and behave like her older brother.  As I was trying to tie off the umbilical cord, I saw puppy number three had been born and abandoned.  He too was laying on the floor still in his sac.

I rushed in and performed the third rescue of the morning.  Clover was rejecting her puppies!  I fought back the tears and called the vet for the third time that morning.  Earlier, I left 2 panicked voicemails during the birth, but I have no idea when I found time to call because those three puppies were born in a fifteen minute period.

When my vet, Dr Kristi, called me back she said that Clover was likely still in active labour probably too occupied with that to clean off her puppies or allow them to nurse.  We talked of formula feeding and some of the responsibilities I would now have as a surrogate mother to the puppies.  I was secretly glad for the respectively small litter of 5 expected puppies.   Then Dr Kristi encouraged us to get Clover to nurse.

My husband helped Clover lay down and I latched each puppy on a nipple.  Clover began to gingerly lick a puppy and then she thoroughly licked all the puppies.  She calmed down and allowed them to nurse.  She became protective of her puppies and relaxed into her new role as mom.

About an hour later, her labour started back up and I am happy to say she whelped the rest of the puppies perfectly.  She was severing the cords, eating placentas and cleaning puppies off, and finally nursing each one. We were very surprised to meet puppy number six.  Clover's scan had showed only five puppies.  Clover had EIGHT puppies!  Three boys and five girls ranging in colour from apricot to cream.  

Clover with her first liter.  Puppies are only hours old.

Assisting Clover in the birth process was a life goal met for me, but also somehow a sacred experience.  I cried and laughed.  It was incredibly scary but I loved it.