Nothing ever goes to plan...

When you read the statistics of whelping, there is always inevitably a risk for both the bitch and pups as they enter the world. Waiting for Hex's cupcakes to 'cook' I have watched healthy litter after healthy litter enter the world with the greatest of ease, large litters, smaller litters, puppies of different size and different colours and as happy as I have been for each breeder, it has always filled me with a feeling of great unease because, as I have said to many people over the past 9weeks; 'it will be MY litter that goes wrong' this wasn't just me saying it, I genuinely believed that if there was one litter that was going to have problems it would be mine. People dismissed my comments 'don't be silly', 'it will all be fine' and as the final week approached I had talked myself out of my pessimistic ways and decided that with the amount of breeding and veterinary knowledge I have surrounding me in the form of friends and clients, we would be fine. I had done all the research, I had a well prepped whelping room, a healthy bitch and my Mum at hand what could go wrong that we couldn't deal with?....

21/01/12: I had slept in the whelping room the past 2 nights, Hex was restless and obviously nesting, thrashing the perfectly laid vetbed in her box about. She had me up at 12.45am and 2.30am this morning and with the puppies being due on the 23rd, I knew when I took her temperature at 8.30am what to expect - a drop; the puppies were to be expected within 24hrs.

I left Hex in my Mum's capable hands for the day enabling me to take my lessons with the proviso that if there was ANY change in her behaviour I was to be called home immediately. Hex huffed and puffed all day, but no contractions and no change in her behaviour.

22/01/12, 8.45am: Hex had another restless night (which meant so did I) huffing and fidgeting, Mum had stayed the night and we were all up relatively early at 6am, Matt came home from his night shift and Hex bolted out of the backdoor to see him as they both made it back in the house Matt pointed to the floor - 'is that wee?' - Nope, Hex's water had broken, the puppies were on their way! We checked double checked that we had everything we needed in the whelping room and encouraged her in her box (which I now had removed the lid from).

9.22am: We started to see contractions, little cramps in Hex's middle, but she just went with it, we had been expecting to see the puppies within an hour of her water breaking, so by 11am Mum had her concerns, we phoned a friend of mine, a qualified vet from our practice who's advice was that unless we saw the dreaded green discharge or Hex was straining with no result that her uterine contractions were normal and her cervix was dilating ready for the first puppy which will always be the hardest. This matched what the books and internet said (and what I had been told the night before when I double checked)- uterine contractions could last up to 18hrs, so we would probably be in for a long one.

12.15pm: Hex seemed to have gotten into a pattern - ask to go out to the toilet, go back to the box, have some contractions, sleep, start again. She was in no discomfort, or distress, when Mum and I made the decision to leave her for 5 mins to eat, she followed us to the kitchen, with her usual 'anything I can do to help?' expression and while we ate she laid by my feet as happy as Larry, once finished with lunch I insisted she go back to her box. Mum and I sung 'Push' based songs to her - 'push it real good', 'push the button/puppy' and Agadoo 'Push my puppy out your womb', but she looked at us like the crazy people we are and rested her head for another sleep. Another phone call of reassurance to the vet.

2.30pm: Still no puppies, worries were increasing but we had checked for puppy 'presentation' twice during the day and there was nothing there, Hex STILL wasn't pushing - she had been talking to me, as she usually does, a bark when I was ignoring her, a grizzle or two of complaint with the contractions, but still no straining or any sign of distress. Just Hex, chilling in her box waiting for her puppies to arrive. When she barked at me I'd tell her 'don't look at me, you're the one who needs to do something'.

3.30pm: Still no puppies, Mum and I got a call from Hex's breeder who had earlier been in contact for words of support. 'She's not going to push' Lisa said, 'she's following in her Mum's footsteps, she's going to need help'. To this point I had been trying my very hardest to keep calm as the books suggest, leave Hex to it as EVERYONE suggests but as soon as I heard Lisa say this all the panic kicked in, all the doubt I had been talking myself out of flooded back, I phoned my vet to ask her if now was the time to go for Oxytocin (the drug used to bring on contractions) bearing in mind Hex's family history, she didn't pick up. I didn't want to take Hex to the vets, although she loves it there, it is not ideal for a bitch to have a stranger with them during this time and certainly not to be in a strange cold environment, but I resorted to ringing the emergency on call vet. The vet on call was aware that Hex was having her puppies today, I had rung the oncall to let them know 'just in case' as advised, but had never thought I would have to use them. The vet sounded alarmed I hadn't rung sooner, but I had been receiving advice from a friend/vet from the same surgery and Hex wasn't showing any danger signs or even pushing... and that was the problem, she should have been all this time.

As Mum prepped the car and Matt came down the stairs, I broke down, how had this all happened? Idiots who breed their dogs for all the wrong reasons manage, farm dogs manage in barns - why when I had done all the research and prep and had sat all day monitoring the situation with 2 books at hand, the internet right there in front of me and all the support I could need, including my Mum who had started to panic long before me, why was it all going wrong?!

Another break down in the car as I realised I could no longer feel the puppies moving, Hex's belly just felt hard and still. I had been feeling strong puppies moving all week, even this morning, had I left everything too late?

4pm: Hex bounced into the vets (as she usually does), jumped up and gave the vet cuddles (nothing new). The vet felt and Hex was fully dilated with a head waiting at the neck of the womb ready to go and so first 5ml shot of Oxytocin was administered - After 20mins finally we saw her actually pushing! The vet commented that either she had a lot of puppies or they were very big, either way she was FULL, she prepared me that even if Hex got the first one out there was no promise she'd be able to shift the others.

4.30pm: Still no puppies, another 5mls of Oxytocin administered, she had now been given the maximum dosage.

5pm: Her contractions were no more frequent or hard and she'd given up pushing. A Cesarean was on the cards. The vet on call wanted to know if I wanted her spayed at the same time - I didn't know, I hadn't done that research, if the puppies were fine then I probably should - even before all this drama I was never going to breed from her again. But what if they weren't okay? I desperately wanted a Hex puppy, that's why we were breeding and what about Clive - but not at the expense of my own precious girl. I asked the vet if they could do the C-Section and then do the spay afterwards or if both had to happen - would it all happen at once, she said she could do one after the other. I asked her to check Hex's bump again so I could prepare for the decision; she thought she felt a paw move, but she couldn't make out any heartbeats.

Still undecided I signed the consent form for surgery and handed over her lead, Hex looked over her shoulder as she trotted away. I went to the car for another cry; phoned Matt, Lisa and Clive & Elaine, then went back into the waiting room to twiddle my thumbs and pray that everyone would be okay. My facebook friends words of support kept me sane but with every minute that passed I felt sicker.

5.25pm: Mum used to work at the vets for 6 and a half year so she knew the Kitchen was right next to the operating theatre - she went to 'go and get a coffee', what she saw was the veterinary nurse desperately rubbing to puppies 'do you need a hand?' she asked, the response was 'yes' and that's when Mum called my name. I can't even remember how she called it, I think I remember feeling hope, so it must have had a ring of positivity to it, but not enough that I believed we were out of the woods. I did my work experience at the vets so my feet automatically took me to the room where I saw Hex on her back open on the table and everyone with a puppy either in their hands or a couple in front of them on a stand, furiously being rubbed. There was afterbirth over the floor and still attached to some puppies, I was handed a towel and a puppy and got to work - a couple of gasps no noise, I called for help, but as my puppy's nose was pink I was given the clear to keep rubbing as I did I looked around, the puppies were passed from hand to hand as the ones which were taking long to yelp worked their way back to the professional, as we passed them around we worked out there were 5, but we had lost track of who had come out in what order, as each pup made it's first confident sounds the nurse would secure their cords and remove their clamps to place them in a box with some heated pads and towels. Eventually there was just one left fighting, she had, had a heartbeat at somepoint and everything had been tried to revive her but Hex was still open on the table with her puppies crying in a basket on the floor, the nurse recognised that this was the puppy (a classically marked chunky but beautiful girl) who had been first in line to leave the womb, 2nd out of the C-Section, they had to give up and spay and close Hex.

Mum and I waited in the waiting room with a basket of crying puppies for Hex to return, I reflected that Hex had been first out of her Mum, we had lost another Hex, but I couldn't look at it like that - for 30 horrible minutes I thought I had lost them all so I had to see that I had gained 4 precious cupcakes and hopefully their Mum would be back with us soon.

I have no idea what time it was when Hex was back with her pups, I was just so pleased to see her, we helped each find teat and woozy Hex lay there not really aware of what was happening. I have no idea what time it was when we were given the all clear to go home or what time we got home. Once the puppies had received a good feed and been toileted (with help from Mum), we weighed them and took their first pictures as well as naming them after X-Men which was the deal I had made with Matt if I was to have puppies. I have still managed to match the names with the puppies markings (if you know your X-Men!):

Gambit

Male - 384g

Beast

Male - 407g

Mimic

Male - 320g

Rogue

Female - 398g

A complete surprise that they all came out Black and White when there were so many colours in the mix, but they are all so beautiful and precious. I am sat in a camping chair in the whelping room as I type this and listening to them chowing down, when I count to check they are all there I keep trying to count 5 and thinking I am missing one, which in some respects we are.

I have been reassured that as the Oxytocin didn't help we probably would have always ended up with a C-Section, Hex would have always had to have gone through an operation because as Lisa put it 'she's too posh to push'.

But in my head I keep thinking if I'd got Hex to the vets sooner we may have been able to save the little girl I had to say my goodbyes to, I gave her a cuddle before we left her and told her I was sorry and there is a great amount of guilt surrounding her loss, but I did everything I could by the book. After writing this piece I must put these thoughts behind me, close that chapter and only count to 4. I can now focus on the new editions to my family and try to decide which one will be mine always.

A huge HUGE thank you to Mum for being there every step of the way, Matt for being my rock, Lisa for bringing Hex into my life and making the call which saved her puppies, obviously Axe Valley Vets and also to every body who has contacted me for reassurance and support.

I will continue to keep you updated with pictures and videos as the Monkstone lot grow and develop... and get naughty!!!