Correction: Bella had 11 puppies! Around 3:30am, almost 12 hours after she started giving birth, she had a 10th puppy. Thank God I decided to stay up all night. The puppy was tiny and obviously the runt so I definitely assumed this was it. However, about 15 minutes later I came to check on her and a tiny 11th puppy had just popped out but I could immediately tell that something was wrong. Bella had broken the sac but was not paying much attention to this puppy. I picked it up in a towel and realized that it was completely lifeless. I started rubbing her and trying to get her to cough up the fluids in her throat and nose but I had no luck. I continued for several minutes and even proceeded to hand the puppy to Bella but Bella just kept licking her with no response. Knowing me, you have probably figured out that at this point I starting balling my eyes out. I thought for the sure the puppy was dead and I was crying very loudly, so loudly that Walter woke up and came running out of the room. I explained what happened and gave him the puppy. He started rubbing the puppy as well and swore he got some movement out of her, I thought it was just his imagination. Eventually I saw the movement as well and she started expelling the mucus that was blocking her airways and breathing. At this point I called an emergency vet and they told me there wasn't much they could do for a newborn but advised me to use a snot sucker to extract the mucus. We didn't have one so Walter flew over to Walgreen's and got one. That worked and the puppy started breathing normally and moving her entire body. After a few minutes of snot sucking, puppy CPR, and rubbing her, she was moving like she should and seemed to a be a weak but alive puppy. I knew she wouldn't have much of a chance to eat from Bella with her 10 brothers and sisters so I ran to Wal-Mart and purchased puppy milk. We had a tiny puppy bottle so we fed her the milk and she seemed to get that final burst of energy that turned her into a normal squirming puppy. She was so squirmy that it became difficult to feed her a bottle so I gave her to Bella and she was able to drink from Bella. After checking on her every few minutes I was unable to tell her apart from her tiny sister. She is now happy, healthy, and eating from her mother just like her other brothers and sisters. She is the biggest miracle I have ever seen, I cannot even believe she is alive!!! Had I not woken Walter up, she probably wouldn't be alive, I would have given up but he refused and I am so happy he revived that little puppy. I think that once they get older, we will be able to tell which one she is because she will probably be slightly smaller and slightly weaker than the rest, she shows no signs of brain damage or any complications so I sure hope she will be a normal, healthy puppy. We have an appointment to take all the puppies to the vet on Wednesday so hopefully he will tell us that she is perfectly normal.
Sorry to write so much, I know I don't normally write on my blog but I wanted to share my story because it was the most incredible thing I have ever seen, I just can't get over the fact that we brought that puppy back to life.
Bella had a total of 9 puppies on Sunday, September 15th starting at around 4:30pm and she finished with the runt at midnight. There were 3 boys and 6 girls, crazy for my little Bella. It was nice that I was actually home to watch the whole thing and the kids got to see it too, not to mention Rosie and Miguel and their kids, poor Bell had an entire audience. Here are the photos but beware, they are a little graphic:
While she's in labor
Arian's expression when he saw the first puppy, love it!
Puppy number one
Bell loves her aunt Rosie, she takes such good care of her!
Ok so here's how the puppy thing works
-She grunts a little and then a puppy pops out within seconds
Here you can see the puppy coming out:
Bella licks the sac to remove it and then eats the umbilical cord
and here's the darling puppy:
She is such a good mom!
Awww, giving birth is exhausting!
All 9 puppies:
