What A Day...

I've got some sad news ...our Beagle, Hannah, was due to have puppies this week and she went into labor this afternoon. Ralph was home with her and he called me at work. I got off an hour early and got home and Han was having one breached - a little boy - and he was stuck. I couldn't get him out.

So we rushed her to the vet. This is a newer vet office they opened 2 blocks from my house last year. They were SO accommodating. The Dr removed the little stillborn. He was white and brown spotted like Hanny. The Dr then palpated her and said he thought there were a few more pups in there, so she got oxytocin to induce her labor harder and we walked. Nothing. So the Dr didn't want to waste time, so he took her into the OR for a doggie C-section.

I got to stay in the room and watch the whole thing. Once the Dr opened her up, though, her uterus was EMPTY. No more pups. He said she was hyper-obese for a Beagle (she's 36 lbs!!!!!) and that she had fatty organs that mimicked pregnancy. I was so shocked and so sad. One of the nurses brought me that little stillborn male. He was HUGE - he literally got stuck in the birth canal and suffocated. It's sad, but I've accepted that this is the way things are. So, while he had her on the table, he went ahead and spayed her. Now she won't have to endure this anymore.

I'm just so exhausted. If I'd known 11 hours ago that this was how my day was gonna end, I wouldn't have believed it.

The thing that happened next shocked me even more. One of my co-workers (who has asked to remain nameless) showed up and watched part of the operation with me. I was bawling, she was bawling and she said she had to go. She'd only stopped to make sure me and Hannah were OK since I'd left work so abruptly and no one had heard from me. I didn't think anything of it, because she lives nearby and I thought she was just on her way home.

When Ralph came and picked us up, I stopped at the desk on the way out, ready to settle up the bill and when I asked her, "How much do I owe you?" she said that my friend who'd stopped by that I'd been talking to in the OR had paid for everything.

I mean I almost fainted right there. She totally didn't have to do that and when I called her, she said that she knew how hard Ralph and I were working for everything right now and she wanted to help because she was able to ....I just can't believe that I have such wonderful and beautiful people in my life. I'm truly blessed.

So it's sad that Hannah lost her little one - she's been looking around and searching, but I suppose that will pass with time. Everything happens for a reason. The important thing is that she's OK and there won't be anymore puppies added to the already overflowing pet population in this country.