Obviously farms and animals go hand in hand. Moving out to Centerville we had our beloved Boxers, Buster and Bella. Apparently the Universe felt that two dogs were not sufficient livestock for our farm. Unbeknownst to us, about the same time we signed the lease on the farmette the dogs took matters into their own hands.
A week or so before Christmas I began to suspect that my baby Bella was pregnant. We had been so careful to keep the dogs apart because, although we were planning on having puppies, we weren't ready for them yet. Being the science geek I am, I started researching dog pregnancies and development. The more I read, the more I convinced myself that Bella was experiencing a false pregnancy. Apparently its fairly common in young dogs, so I breathed a sigh of relief and postponed a vet visit a few more days.
Finally, on the Monday after Christmas, I made a vet appointment. As soon as the doctor took one look at Bella, he announced that she was indeed pregnant. To confirm his findings, took an X-ray with the hopes of identifying the number of pups we could expect.
After waiting for 10 minutes to get the results of the x-ray, the doctor returned to say it was inconclusive. He was unable to say if Bella was just too thick for a good picture or if the solution in his developer was bad. Bella endured 2 more X-rays. One to be developed immediately and one to be developed at a later time if the problem appeared to be the issue. More waiting and Bella and I were both getting antsy. A visibly frustrated vet returned to tell us he still didn't have a clear picture and would call me the next day after changing the developing solution.
Knowing that Bella was pregnant started actions in motion. There was a "nursery" to set up, supplies to buy, and research to do. In my best Gone with the Wind voice I told anyone who would listen, "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no puppies Miz Scahlett." The truth was I didn't know anything about having a litter of pups. As a kid we had one litter of standard poodels, but I just observed that time. Now I would be in it for real.
The next day the vet called back to schedule a follow-up. He felt the X-ray revealed 4-5 puppies and he wanted to give Bella another calcium injection to ensure that she didn't come down with eclampsia. When he pulled up the X-ray, we counted 6 tiny puppy skulls. Six puppies would be here within a week.
What!? Did he say a week? How did I let this get so out of hand? Puppy preparations went into high gear. Based on my research, I thought Bella's temperature was lowered to the point that would indicate New Year's puppies. Not wanting to miss a thing, or leave poor Bella to handle childbirth on her own, I set up a streaming webcam to watch her from anywhere I was. There's an app for that even and I could watch the activity in my upstairs hallway from my cell phone.
One week turned to two and on January 9th, after much waiting, Bella went into labor.
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