just got home from work and she is in labor, she has bloody discharge down her legs and is under the bed and circling and panting and i know this is it- im scared and calling my husband to come home to help , cant get a hold of him tho.
called my mom she has had a few dogs that had pups but she tells me to leave the house and mother nature will kick in- what the heck? i cant leave what if she needs me?
gee thanks mom for all the help. i wonder if thats what she wanted to do when me and my sister were born just leave? lol
anyways am i suppose to be there with her? leave her alone? just check on her? i hae been going in every few minutes and so far she is gripping on to her sweeky toy and babying it but its going to happen any minute , i hope this goes smooth for her.
my heart feels like im having a panic attack and i feel bad for her and want to help but dont want to stress her out with me hounding her. I do have all the other animals blocked out so they cant bother her and my kids will be home from school in a few minutes which will also keep them quite.
what do i do??????
Everyhting i read, my mind is drawing a blank and im not good in any emergency situation at all.
i wanta call 911 for help but im sure they wont help me with a liter of pups.
lol
any one on and can help me? anything i should be doing? should i be sitting iwth her and talking to her?
of coarse i do when i go in and see if shes ok but she jsut looks at me and circles and pants and it breaks my heart.

please let me know what i need to do

I'm no dog expert, but don't you think at the time your dog is in labour, it's a little too late to be asking quetions? Shouldn't you have planned for this moment a long time before and been prepared for it? Of course you need to stay with her incase anything goes wrong. There is a post on here somewhere that gives step by step instructions on the whelping process....try to find that for more info...and good luck, sounds like your gonna need it.

http://www.terrificpets.com/forum/47517.asp

This is the sticky the previous poster was referring to, I think.

Stay with her, and relax-most of the time these thigns will go just fine. While she is laboring, sterilize a pair of scissors & some thread (or sterile dental floss will work)grab a few old towels and a bowl of warm water with a washcloth in it. Each puppy should slide out in a sac, which mom should gently tear open-sometimes they can get a little overzealous with this, so watch to make sure she doesn't accidentally bite baby. She will chew off the umbilical cord & eat the placenta most likely. She should be thoroughly licking baby all over to get him moving and clear out his nostrils. Alot of puppies will not breath right away and need more help though. If baby isn't responding, or if Mom doesn't take the initiative to do the above, you will need to step in. Gently tear the sack away from the baby, starting by its face. it is tough stuff, so you will have to tug a bit. Take the sterile thread and tie off the cord about two inches from the belly, and again about another half inch after that. Then use the scissors to snip it between where you tied-it may bleed a little bit, but if you tied it tightly it should stop fairly quickly. Be very careful not to snip to close to the baby's belly. Once you have it snipped, don't worry about it anymore for now. Very important- make sure that a placenta comes out with EACH baby. It will be a big blackish glob, can't miss it. It is fine if mom wants to eat these, some people take them away after the first few as mom might throw up if she eats alot of them, but that is sort of personal choice. Just keep count that each baby has one, if she retains a placenta she can get a serious infection quickly. Briskly rub baby all over for several minutes with a dry towel, pay special attention to the nose and mouth area, wiping out any visible goo. It helps to hold baby angled head down while doing this. If baby still doesn't breathe on its own after a few minutes, don't give up. You can VERY GENTLY swing it upside down (supporting its head of course) and firmly thump its back and chest to help clear its airway. Also do a little mouth to mouth-not as hard as it sounds. Take a breath, put your mouth over babys mouth and nose and blow in. Repeat every few seconds. It is very common for it to take several minutes of active rubbing and rescusitation to get a pup breathing-the worst thing you can do is to assume because it is born still and limp, that it is dead. MOST of the time, they just need a little attention and they will be just fine. Now, mom may have the pups close together, but more common is 20 minutes to an hour apart. She will probably rest after each one and tend to it, but if she is young and inexperienced she may just be anxious and not pay any attention to them at all. If more than two hours passes without another pup, and she appears to still be in labor, or you think there are still pups in her, get her to the vet without delay. If mom settles down enough after each pup, place them next to her for her to nurse-if she is too wound up, just put them in the whelping box (I am asssuming you have soemthing prepared?) Under a heat lamp would be great, not too close to burn them though. If you dont have a heat lamp, wrap a hot water bottle in a dish towel and put that in with them. very important to keep them warm-they will be ok if they dont eat right away. Remember most importantly, if you are genuinely concerned about the well being of mom and the pups, call your vet. Most will either make emergency visits, or talk you through it on the phone. Once pups are all born, be sure to get mom in for a check up in the next day or so to make sure all is well. if she has any foul smnelling or green discharge, get her in ASAP though. Normal discharge of brownish-red goo in small amounts is normal for a few days, even up to two weeks in some dogs. If it is heavy, or bright red, she could be bleeding internally and needs to see the vet though. I hope I have given you the most important info for now- if you have problems, I know there are alot of threads on here-a sticky even maybe? about labor & delivery.

Sunnydaze, get that dog OUT from under the bed, shut the bedroom door, and put her on a blanket with old towels on it on the floor. Sit with her, and calmly pet her. You don't want those pups born under the bed.

If you want me to call you and help you over the phone, PM me, your box is full.

Whoops, now I see there IS a sticky. Sorry for the lengthy post.

Stacyb.....

Do you honestly think that critisizing her will make a difference at this time? Those remarks are uncalled for and rude.

Sundaze, call Pen2 or myself if you would like. Pen has my number.

Good Luck!

Tell me Jackie exactly what is rude about what I said? Isn't it the truth that when you are planning a litter, you need to do your research, and at the moment of delivery is far too late?? I gave her an idea where to find the answer (although I do not know how to post the direct link to it, someone else kindly did that). And as far as uncalled for, what is wrong with telling the truth even if you don't want to hear it. I really don't think anyone can argue with that. Sorry to have somehow offended your sensibilities.

stacey- She did ask questions early on and her litter was not planned. If you read her post she said she is not good under this type of situation and her mind has drawn a blank and she cant think clearly to remember what she should do....however I do agree with you that the simplest thing like leaving the home or staying with the dog should not have been forgotten and clearly alot more reaserch could have been done it sounds like...with that said the previouse poster is right (i think it was Jackie) Now is not the time to be like that because she needs help regardless of wether she researched or not the time is here and your post will not help her.....Sunnydaze-Pen2 is a great helper so please do pm your number to pen2 because it sounds like you could use pens help.Good Luck!!

I just recently went through the same thing with my female frenchie. The vet did an ultrasound and guestimated her to be around 45 days. We had an appointment for sunday afternoon to do the x-rays so they could get a better idea of her due date and set an appointment for the c-section. Well so much for that. She went into labor on saturday night, the night before her x-ray appointment. Because i didnt want to risk any complications, i loaded her up and drove to the emergency vet. It was touch and go that she may have needed an emrgency c-section, but thankfully, she was able to deliver all three pups on her own.
If you are worried about any possible issues with delivery, then take her to the vet right away. At least they will be on hand should any problems arise, as not all dogs can whelp naturally and she may be one of them.

If she has blood on her back legs and the way you described, you might want to move the bed or do a super good check, she may have already had one,perhaps stillborn or still in the sack so you wouldnt hear anything. They dont usually get all icky back there until they have one or have ruptured the sac and in that case a puppy is very close to coming out and if its not out by now, its time to get worried.

Any news?

Stacyb--I hope you do alot of research, study, ask questions, believe your prepared, and then make one mistake. That way I can be there to remind you of just how stupid that mistake was.

She needs help, plain & simple. People are so quick to point out someone else's mistakes rather than just help when help is needed.

First off thank you everyone for the help,
Yes she had her puppys, She wouldnt move from under the bed no matter how much i tried and the vet told me just to leave her there,
She had the first pup about 3:15 and it was stuck , head was stuck in her vagina and she was trying to pull the pup out and i was freaking out, of coarse inside not making her freak out and trying to remember what to do in this situation and i did with the help of my daughter pick up the matress so i could get under to help her, we got the pup out ( and i just read about what to do in this very situation ) so we did get the pup out and he wasnt moving or breathing and i was rubbing his belly and breathing in his face like the vet told me and from what i read, i gave the pup to Lola she was freaking out, but it was dead, we all started crying and now i was in a panic thinking what if they all are dead? something is wrong?? i did call my vet and they did talk me threw cpr on the pup which i did already try and at this point i didnt know if i should take the dead pup away from her or what i should do? she was carrying it around the room with her and she cleaned it and nothing looked wrong with it, but he didnt make it.
so the vet told me to take the pup away from her so she wouldnt just focus on that dead pup.

My vet told me to sit with her and then give her a little time by herself but keep checking in on her, which i did , they told me not to let her go over 2 hours with out anther pup, it was 2 hours and nothing!! ok the pup that she had was a pretty good sized puppy way bigger then i ever thought the vet told me that the first pup normally is the biggest and some times still borns just happen.
but if that one passed threw then the rest should. But still nothing. so the vet said to load her up and bring her in so he can make sure she can have them or she might need a c section-
we get there and it tickes me off already that i have to sit with her wrapped in her blanket all bloody from her butt to her mouth is all dirty from eating the placenta and such and shes so nervous and in labor and were sitting there waiting for a room to open up with other dogs barking at her and it wanst good. they wanted to weigh her and that really ticked me off . but i went along with it.
he did a exam and felt no puppys in the birth canal and said maybe that was the only one, she had a xray a week before and we knew for sure there were 3 but he thought maybe 4 coudlnt really tell .
so hes saying they arent moving down maybe they are all dead ect...
and gave her this shot to get the labor moving along faster and if she didnt have a puppy in 15 minutes then he would do a c section and had me sit on the floor with her in the exam room on her blanket i had her wrapped in and we sat here and i layed iwth her and talked to her and she wasnt in labor anymore she looked like she wanted to sleep and was just relaxed. the vet walked by the door and lookd in threw the window and i shook my head no , nothing happening.
the vets office has closed by this time and just a nurse and the vet are still there and i think they are getting ready to do a c section. were in there for about 1/2 hour now and i start to feel her pushing. and a puppy is coming out! the vet opens the door and he said ok good, let her do it. im thinking hes going to come in and help her have the puppy, instead he closes the door and wants me to let her do her thing but im terrifed that the pup is going to die or be dead so im helping her and the sack is over the puppys face and Lola is licking and cleaning and i put my finger unt the sack and the puppys face and pull then sack from around the puppys head. i wanst taking any chances that this one would die to if no one did anything so i did it. the puppy started crying ... yaeahhheee she made it. its a litle girl and Lola is cleaning the puppy and trying to move it some where im sure just not wanting to have her puppy on the flooor at the vets office.
so im trying to keep her from pickng the pup up and moving it off the blanket.
the vet comes in and said CONGRATULATIONS im still freaking out..lol
he said well take her home where shes more comfy and shes on a roll now- so we wrap Lola back up and also put the new puppy in a warm towel the vet gave us and were on our way home we live only 10 min from the vet, im in the back seat with Lola and the new puppy and hubby driving-
were just turning on our private road and i feel her start pushing. i tell hubby to pull over shes having one and he said why? lets just get her home. so hes still driving. i cant see what is going on to well she is turned twards the door.
finially we stop and hubby opens the door and the puppy is out but still connected with the cord, and its a very very small cord which i JUST read about before taking her to the vets about the short cord, so i have my daughter run in and grab the sissors i had ready just incase- the cord was so short i did give her ample time to chew the cord but there was just no room for her to do so ,
so i cut the cord- the puppy was fine... yeeyyyyeeeehhee anther one ok-
so we know we have 1 more left to go-
we bring them all in the house and back in the bedroom and into the whelping crate and she does keep then in there and doesnt try to move them under the bed.
So, i come out to give her a few mintues and go back in with in 10 minutes and she had the last puppy- already cleaned up and feeding.
I think leaving her alone really helped instead of bothering her,
plus me freaking out about her steping on the pups trying to get them all situated and pushing her away from them when she kept licking them and woudlnt let them eat.
so my husband said there cant be 2 mommies and i siad you know your right, they are hers and i cant be here 24/7 making sure she isnt steping on them, even tho she wasnt she was just getting them all snuggled in around her boobies and it makes me nervous thinking she was being to rough. but she isnt.

so there is it... we have 3 puppies. my daughter baried the dead one- in a shoe box way back in the field.

ok, so all night she was with them and we have the bedroom door shut so the dog and cat cant go in and bother her, I did bring the dad in to see her, hes been whinning and wanting to see her, but she growled nad didnt want him around or the cat so i dont let them in- hubby slept in the bedroom with her and the puppys and i stayed out on the couch with the cats and other dog.

she is feeding them pretty good and i did feed her yesterday took food and water into her. we had a roast in the crock pot cooking all day so i gave her roast meat which she ate, and drank lots of water.
i did that 2x last night and this morning and made white rice to put in with the roast meat and she ate it, and again drank a full bowl of water.

she comes out more today to go potty and to check things out, and say hello to the cats and dog. and i pet her and talk to her and take her out. she wants right back in iwth her pups and dont stay out of that room longer then 2 minutes at a time.

im waiting on the vets office to open up, she seems fine, the only thing i dont know about and didnt read anything about is that she is still panting alot! is this normal? the vet said she was healthy when we were there , but is her panting still normal? maybe shes just warm ?
I do have a heating pad under the crate pad i have to keep the puppys warm and also have the furance up to keep it warm in the bedroom for the pups.

can something be wrong because she is panting so much? she is eating and drinking and going pee i havnet seen her poop yet today tho.
i did take the week off from work so i am here iwth her for the week.
i go in and check on her every 1/2 hour to hour just to talk to her and see how she is.

when can i give her a bath? she had dried blood and discharge all on her back side and its pretty yucky but right now she wont stay away from the pups long enough to do anything with her.

i know it isnt bothering her or me, its just shes a mess-

im worried about the panting.. i tried to find something on it but really havnet to know if its normal. i know there isnt no more pups in her, and i dont know if the placneta came out for the last one since she did have it when i wasnt in the room, but all the rst came out and she ate them.
just a heavy pant, she will lay down when nursing and will stop for a few minutes but seems to start again.
should i be worried???
anyone have any ideas why ? yes i know she just went threw this major ordeal and if its normal then super, but im jsut now conserned for her health even tho the vet said she was healthy and i had nothing to worry about,

and i did and have been on line reading everything i could find about whelping, its just when it started i paniced and everything i read seemed to be forgotton, im not good at all in situations like this. when my kids were small and cut them self and needed stitches i couldnt even look at it, i would go to my moms and have her tell me what she thought. thank gosh my daughters are older now, 15 and 16 but thats just how ive always been.

please let me know about the panting . thats all im stressed about and worried about now.
the puppys are all fine and look to be 2 females and 1 male
the one that died was a male.
so she would of had 4 but we have 3.
she really is doing a great job carring for them. i guess the motherly instint does kick in, which i was worried about but shes making sure they are warm and feeding them and staying with them. when shes slept with us since we got her and i know its hard for her to be on her own on the floor-

again sorry so long- just wanted to let everyone know what happened and that 3 made it

Glad to hear that things worked out okay for mom and babies, but your vet sounds pathetic. When we took Annie into the emergency, they were wonderful. She had the same problem. Her first puppy was the largest and feet first in the birth canal. They were getting ready to set up for an emergency c-section, when she was able to push the pup out. After that, they put us in a room, put several blankets down and brought annie into us. They had the first pup in a little box with a towel and a hot water balloon ( rubber glove )to keep her warm. Then after each pup was born, they took the pup out of the room and brought them back all cleaned up and had tied off their umbilical cords. After all three were born , they placed them back with mom so she could nurse for a bit before sending us all home. They were wonderful there.
My babies are a little over two weeks now and going strong. Thankfully none were lost. I am the gramma and spend alot of time by the box. I have been gently handling them all, and sometimes i just lay next to them and stroke them. They are getting to where they see me and come to the edge of the box so "gramma" can love them up. Annie was the same way as your dog. She always slept next to me in the bed. So when the babies are sleeping, she comes in my room, and i will have her get on my bed and will lay down with her and smooch her up. Make sure you give your little mamma lots of love. Even though they are now mammas themselves, they still need to know that they are our babies and we still love them. Good luck with the pups, hope we can see some pics soon.

Your vet could have maybe explained a little more about procedures but really that kind of stuff is typical. At least at our clinic. Your vet knew that she was more than likley OK and while your dog may seem more important than anyone elses there at the time, the others with their dogs think the same thing about their dogs and there could have been other emergencies needing attended to. It is standard practice to weigh the animals too so they can properly dose medication and shots if they need to. Some of the stuff they give especially for anesthetic and c-sections are extremely potent, you would not want them guessing how much she weighed you would want them to know for sure. It may have seemed tedious at the time but they are doing it because they really do care. It sounds like everything went pretty much OK except for that first one, they are almost always the largest and hardest to get out.

Dusty, keep me in your thoughts, I am watching a Frenchie for my mom today who's temp is dropping. My mom has to run Radar to the handler today who is about to leave on tour. BTW he has 2 majors and only needs singles to finish. So I am watching her today, if she hasnt done anything by the time she gets back she will have a c-section or if she goes into active labor with trouble I will be handling the trip for the c-section.

Good afternoon or evening now. I do understand that vets are busy and they were taking her in basically to help me and to make sure everything was fine, But i just thought it was really stressing her out waiting for a exam room when they told me they would have one ready for her and they did get her right in they moved a family that had a caged mouse out of the room to put Lola in.
Everyone in the waiting room area before we went in were wishing us luck and well wishes which was nice.
I wish my vet would of been that nice to put water balloons to keep the new pup warm on the trip home, i had to ask for a hand towel to wrap her up in to bring her home. they gave me nothing else-

Oh well everything went fine and im so happy tho that she didnt need a c section even tho i thought it would of been easier and not so stressful for either of us.

But im still worried about her panting so heavy and drinking TONS of water were talking a big dog water bowl full about 1 a hour which i think is about 1 1/2 cups of water we now have 3 becautiful puppies lola has done a vary good job for being a first time mother i am proud od her.....