Given how much effort it has taken to make this litter a reality, the advice from Dr Mason was clear all along .... we will err on the side of caution. So on Tuesday morning, when they hadn't yet arrived, and there was still no sign of Emmi going into labour, we headed off to the vet to check the heartbeats and make sure they were all ok.
With the all clear, Emmi was given 24 hours to have her babies naturally before a c-section was ordered. And it looked like she was going to do it, with contractions (and a heck of a lot of panting!) starting at about 4pm yesterday afternoon. Everything progressed normally, until about 11pm when everything just stopped, and Emmi fell to sleep.
After a few hours, we rang the on-call vet with the suggestion we check heartbeats again and make sure none of the babies were in stress. Three long hours of a drive later, we were back home again, assured the pups were still ok, for another wait.
Except ... that was it. By morning it was clear Emmi still had no intention of having her puppies any time soon ..... so we were off in the car again.
The 'daimonds' were delivered by c-section at about 10.30am today. I've never had to have a c-section done before, and, despite the fact that I certainly wasn't thrilled to be doing so this morning, it was fascinating to watch and be a part of. While a group worked on Emmi, where I could watch through a class window, several of us worked on her pups as they were delivered, ensuring they were all breathing and thriving.
Afterwards, I set up with Emmi in a spare area to introduce her to her pups and help her with her first feed. Once both her and the babies were settling well, we headed back home.
Everyone is now settled in. I was nervous that Emmi would take a while to bond to these new babies without them being delivered naturally, but she has instantly taken on her mother role, and the diamonds are strong, healthy and feeding well.
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