Zombie daze....

So, sorry for the lack of updates/info---I am in a constant mental and physical fog.  Nini and Chico had their puppies in the AM of the 12th of Jan.  She started at 2am and ended at almost 7am.  Six puppies were delivered,  but one was a stillborn, a cream colored male.  Sad--tried to work on him, but it was apparent he had not been alive for some time.  The placenta attached to him, which is supposed to be a dark deep red, was green and decomposing; sign of having died in the womb.  Anyway, 5 others were born into this world.  Three girls and two boys.  One little girl, I am naming Vida (for life in Spanish) was born with her sack already deflated--which can cause them to aspirate the water from their sack if it breaks in the canal...  So, I am assuming she aspirated her sack water which caused her to have water in her lungs.  Well, you get the picture--she had a hell of a time breathing for a long time.  I worked on her for over two hours until I felt her breathing had a rhythm and looked more stabilized...  We're talking the CHI-ICU over at ChihuahuaCrazy!  CRAZY!!!! 

VIDA

Her color was a deep red/purple for a couple of days--they call it the color of death in the Chi breeding world.  But, now she is looking rosier.  She is looking better everyday and becoming more active and squirmy--but, I do not want to artificially inflate my head with pretty thoughts--she may still not make it.  We will see....  She is literally half the size of the others...  She just now started to gain some weight--she had been maintaining her weight, but not showing signs of gain...  If you read this, send a positive thought our way for VIDA...

VIDA AGAIN

It amazes me to think that with every birth I always learn something new.  This time the lesson learned was KEEP A TAB ON ALL PLACENTAS PER PUPPY.  Nini had a few consecutive quick whelps and ripped the cord leaving the placenta in her uterus.  Well, she retained two placentas in all.  The next day she constantly leaked a heavy dark green liquid-unusually heavy...  It worried me.   In the evening I decided to bathe her bottom to get her clean and thank goodness two cords were hanging out of her vulva.  So, I was able to pull one--and there was a complete placenta and then the other...  Sounds gross and it is, but she could have become SEPTIC if they would have continued in her.  She felt the instant relief after they were extracted...  New Nini.

So, I am doing what I always do with every litter which is to care for them as they sleep and nurse next to my side of the bed with a night light on (which my husband really appreciates!).  I wake up a thousand times to adjust and rearrange them, take Nini out to potty, clean her up as she comes back in, feed her and give her water and then help the puppies latch on again...  No sleep for me for now.  But, I would not do it any other way.... 

Nini and her pups...