Dove was in labor a good 12 hours (been acting oddly for 36) when Amanda took control of the situation.  She gave Dove a shot that should have produced a pup within 5 minutes, and it did not.  (While I joked about never wanting to be a vet's dog.  I think I said "pincushion.")  Amanda made ready the truck and we raced to her hospital for an emergency C-Section.  A C-Section is major surgery, but Amanda's practice does about 40 of them per year, thanks to their good reputation among bulldog breeders for doing them.

I was 90% positive this was over-kill.  Dove was not acting distressed at all.  I even took her off lead and let her run with the dogs thinking we just needed to shake the pups into line.  Dove ran, covered about two acres.  I took towels and made ready to have puppies in my lap in the truck.  I knew something was wrong, but thought for sure Dove would work it out.  Part of the problem is she's so tough and strong.  She never acted like she was in any unusual pain.  My plan of action would have killed her.

We put her on the table and I held her while Amanda administered the gas.  They restrained her on the table, prepped for surgery and Kip (Dr. Temm) started cutting.  Amanda felt her boss was the best to do this particular dog.

Upon opening Dove the two problems reveled themselves.  The second problem was a pup sideways in the birth canal, which probably caused the first.  Dove's uterus had ruptured.  These conditions threatened not just the litter, but Dove's life as well. 

Kip removed the lifeless pups and handed them to four of us, the vet-tech, Sheyenne, and the receptionist, Becky as well as Amanda and I.  We rubbed, pounded, squeezed, shook and even blew life into 6 of the 9 pups in there.  Amanda doing triple duty as cheer-leader, teacher and anesthesiologist.

Dove, the tough bitch that she is, was up and walking within minutes of coming off the table.  She went straight to the garbage pail and helped her self to some after-birth.

The diagnosis was "uterine inertia" which is common enough in second litters.  She couldn't quite contract to get the puppies to line up the right way.  Once the uterus ruptured, all the contractions in the world did not matter, like squeezing an air bulb with a hole in it, all the pressure went out the weakest point. 

Kip says it's a "freak" problem and Amanda concurs.  The tear wasn't anything genetic, nor was it the result of an accident.  Even the position the the tear, which is radial rather than longitudinal, was highly unusual.  Kip was able to repair Dove's uterus and she can have another litter.  Amanda says natural whelping is not out of the question, but after only a little pushing, she's going for another C-Section.

I feel guilty about it, but I have to admit I'm disappointed.  I should be looking at the bright side, Dove is alive and we saved 6 pups.  But I so wanted to show Amanda her first "normal" whelping and have all my puppies.  I'm sitting here feeling not as thrilled and excited as I should.

That being said, I've been interacting with the pups and they are strong little buggers.  Very nice.  Two girls, four boys.  Three are liver, three with spots (ticking comes later).  Both girls are liver.  One pup has a name and all will be named today after Santa's reindeer.  Dove is an awesome mother we had to order her out of the whelping box to pee last night and she still won't eat out of the box.  She'll start to eat, then hear the pups whine and goes to them.  We're feeding her a little in the box.