Around 3am, when I was actually just about to go to bed, Pyen Chi started panting so heavily.
She was entering the first phase of labor.
I had been told that it may last from 8 to 16 hours and with her sleeping beside our bed I knew that this meant a rough night's sleep for all of us, not just Pyen Chi. It wasn't until early evening though that Pyen Chi delievered her first baby, a baby boy no bigger than the palm of my hand. He came into this world all wet and slimmy, embilical cord dangling from his body, and his body still totally enclosed in the sack he had exited Pyen Chi from.
She hadn't burst the sack, Snickers ended up having to do that.
She didn't cut the embilical cord either, Snickers had to do that too.
It was hard to contain our excitement about it all and members saw Snickers and I running constantly back and forth to the bedroom, yelling random things in excitement. Less than an hour later Pyen Chi's second baby came -- a little girl with jet black fur. I have no idea where she got the black fur. Pyen Chi's fur is blond and Pacquiao's fur is shades of brown. I say she's the shade of Pacquioa's nose. He has a long black nose and I absolutely love his nose. I used to measure it with my fingers when he was younger. Every month it seemed to grow one finger width in length. I named her Baby Ko-Pac -- "ko" means nose in Korean.
The third baby started its life out on a super rough note. It wasn't breathing when it was delievered. We ended up having to call the vet's emergency number and asking him what to do next. Next thing I knew it Snickers was doing mouth-to-mouth with it. Every 10-15 seconds it would suddenly take a gasp of air but it was just too infrequent. I sat there watching in horror as Snickers continually tried. He worked on the baby while I tried to calm Pyen Chi down; she had become quite adjutated by now and had started whinning.
Success!!! Mouth-to-mouth worked and Baby #3 was now alive and breathing on their own. Snickers had saved it and what a relief that was, woozers.
Baby #4 then came, no problem.
Baby #5, no problem.
Baby #6, problem... same problem as Baby #3 but minus the occassional deep breaths. Pyen Chi had a difficult time pushing Baby #6 out of her, consequently Snickers had to literally pull it out. Just the legs were sticking out of Pyen Chi so Snickers cupped his hands around it, stuck his hands inside of Pyen Chi, and then twisted the baby out slowly. The baby was out but now the problem was that it wasn't breathing. My heart told me it was a goner but my brain was telling me that if he could save Baby #3 then he could save Baby #6 too.
No such luck.
We tried and we tired, it just didn't turn out the way we had hoped. We placed Baby #6 in a little towel and placed it out of Pyen Chi's sight but Pyen Chi could sense something was wrong and so she cried and cried. I had to leave the bedroom but I could hear her from far away whinning. It was so sad and though I know some people may say it was just a dog, an animal, it was still a life and it was a life lost. I love my dogs like they are people and so it was such a sad moment to acknowledge that we had lost one.
Baby #7 arrived and we were over joyed with its arrival because it meant a distraction from the loss of Baby #6.
Baby #8 however, now that was a surprise. He arrived after club hours and long after his brothers and sisters had. He arrived almost 7 hours after his first sibling had, that's pretty crazy. I have to give props to Pyen Chi here though. She really worked hard at delivering those babies, cutting their cords, licking them clean, and getting them fed. And boy did they really plump up! Baby #1 was significally bigger than Baby #8 because of the time it took and all the milk it had drank.
Today was pretty wild, I had witness the miracle of birth and it surely was a miracle. We had started the day off with 3 four-legged friends and ended it with 10. Looks like life as we know it is about to get super busy with having to look after these little ones... oh gosh.
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