Anyone who guessed 8! 8 puppies seen on the xray, though there was a small debate as to whether or not there is a 9th!
Dr. Jackson was a bit worried that she was panting, ( a sign of impending labor, but I think it was more that she was in a stressful environment, the vet's office) so she did a progesterone test (the prog. level drops as delivery nears, ) and also did a quick ultrasound to check for heartbeats. Heartbeats were good, and her prog. came back at 4.5, which means we are good to go. They will all be surprised if she makes it past Thursday and I'm supposed to call them on Thursday if she hasn't done anything productive.
Several days earlier than I was expecting, so we'll see what happens in the next couple of days.
I have a couple of supplies I have to go and get at the drugstore downtown, and then we are good to go. Her temp hasn't dropped yet, so we are limbo at this point.
I was going to take a picture of the xray, but it wasn't clear enough to really see.
More later when I know more.
I finally have a moment to post some new pictures. First is a picture of Decker, feeding her puppies very early Monday morning, (4 am to be exact). This is the first time she fed them in her box, and the most she fed at one time. She still looks a bit uncomfortable (more on that later) but I was thrilled she was finally taking an interest. Later during the day I took one of one of the red puppies snuggled up to Decker, they like to rest by her head after they've eaten. Monday afternoon we loaded Decker and the puppies up in the van and headed back down to the vet's in Woodland Hills. I was worried about her as she was having very strong contractions each time the puppies nursed, and this was causing her to not enjoy nursing them. I've never seen such strong contractions post c-section and she was behaving as if she was still in labor. One of the docs did a quick ultrasound and then gave her a shot of oxytocin and some calcium, both of which helped her almost immediately. Once we got home she was much more relaxed as she nursed, and her fretfulness had stopped as well. The next picture is of the tiny brindle girl, who weighed 3 5/8 ounces at birth, and one of her brindle brothers, who is almost twice her size. She now weighs 4 5/8 ounces which is great, a 27% increase in weight in 4 days. The next picture I just took, one of the red boys, showing his casual side, followed by a group shot of some of them. I'm still doing the clean up duty, but with Decker doing the lion's share of the feeding it is easier. I'm still hoping she'll decide to help with everything but we'll see.
