The Birthday - October 21, 2007

Maggie was scheduled for her routine C-section one day prior to her actual due date.  Our day began with arriving at the veterinarian hospital at 8:00 am so Maggie could be started on fluids.  Caroline (Lucah's "mom"), was close by competing with her girl Caitlin at the Del Valle dog show.  She had her cell phone in hand, waiting for the news of her boy's babies.  It was a busy Sunday morning at the vet's, so emergency cases took a precidence, and our surgery time of 9:00 am was bumped to 10:30 or so.  That worked out great because Caroline was able to join us.	C
	C	Above, Maggie's doctor is delivering her babies in an operating room just beyond the big treatment room.  For those of you who are able to watch the Surgery Channel or do NOT become squeemish at the sight of blood, you may click here for more details of Maggie's C-section delivery. To the left, the vet techs are suctioning out any residual fluids left behind in each of the pup's lungs.
Once the pups begin to breathe on their own, they are wrapped in a new, warm (straight from the dryer), blue cloth.  The vet techs all worked so fast.  To the right, you can see the hand off from one tech to another.  While her right hand is holding a puppy, her left hand is closing the dryer. Below, Stephanie is working on a puppy while more blue cloths are coming out of the dryer.  She hands the pup off to Al, and goes back into the operating room for more pups.	C
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Above, Stephanie, the vet tech in green scrubs, takes charge, "All hands on deck!  More incoming puppies!!"  We all jumped in to help.  Karin and I are handed our pups to keep warm. 

Below, Caroline gets her pup to rub.  She was present at Lucah's birth, so she was an ole' pro at all that needed to be done!!  Don continued to shoot all the pictures!  We were instructed to rub them vigorously!!  The goal was to make them cry, or at least squawk, so we knew they were breathing okay.  Admittedly, this was not Al's or my favorite task or shining moment, because neither of us were getting yelps from our pups.  "You both need to rub them a lot harder," Karin said!  Al finally decided to leave that up to the rest of us!

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To the right and below, Stephanie and Karin assist as Maggie's doctor ties off all the umbilical cords of each pup.  We are hoping for all nice "innies."  Don and Caroline look on...	C
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Straight from the operating room, Maggie was brought into the exam room to be with us so she could wake up out of her anesthesia with me right by her side.  I was holding her head.  I loved this part of the day!  Good job Maggie!!  Prior to allowing us to go on home, Maggie's doctor helps us by making sure all our pups can latch onto a nipple to nurse.  Below, Karin and Caroline working with each pup had great success!!  Good job Karin!!  Good job Caroline!!	C

	C	Below, do you see three baby Bengal Tigers????
Below, Stephanie loads us up for home.	C	Three fawns and four brindles!!

 
Ahhh, finally, Home Sweet Home!! Maggie settled into the whelping box just like her mom and sister did.  And just like her sister Chloe, after her potty breaks, Maggie counted each and every one of her babies as she came back in!!

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