The Gang's All Here (We Think)!

So sorry not to update you more recently; it's been quite a day. Just as I suspected, after DTS and DH left, Elsie kicked into gear again, and she only finished up about an hour ago. Here's the skivvy as we know it:

• Elsie carried and delivered a total of 10 pups: nine living and fully viable and one stillborn (the fourth born). Our one stillborn came out completely lifeless and gray (no pink at all, completely limp, no reflexes, no movement, no sounds, but fully developed and the same size as the rest). I worked hard on trying revive him, but ten minutes in that process, Elsie dropped her fifth and sixth pups within a minute of each other. I was here alone, and the fourth-born had expired well before he delivered and wasn't responding at all to my efforts. It was either keep trying to save him and risk the two new ones, or just focus on getting the two new ones a good start. I made the choice to stop trying to bring him back, and thankfully the two I focused on instead, Masters Red and Yellow, seem to be thriving now (they were slow to start).
• Gender totals are 8 boys, 2 girls (7 living boys, 2 living girls)
• Coats are all yellow, of course (ranging from champagne-like to dark yellow or nearly red -- we have one boy and one girl that might be truly be red (both darker than the rest), but it might be too soon to tell.
  
• All 10 weighed about the same: roughly a pound, give or a take an ounce. They're all roughly the same size, though Master Black is our runt.
  
• We think our stillborn boy died in utero not long before he was born. Elsie actively pushed with him for nearly 90 minutes, and once he delivered, it was like a cork popped: the next two came eight minutes later within a minute of each other.
• Our happy squiggly, wiggly nine include: Blue, Pink, Green, Red, Yellow, Lime (a lime green), Sky (a sky blue), Black, and White. The girls (again, we only have two) are Miss Pink and Miss Sky. I'll introduce them individually later.

For now, here's the gang with a wiped-out Elsie:



I'll write in more detail later tonight. For now we think Elsie may be done, but she occasionally acts like she has more to do.

That would make sense since we're still missing 7 of the 10 placentas (she ate one, we pitched two, and all the other pups came out with their cords already broken and no longer attached to a placenta. So far, there's no sign of the rest.

Elsie's occasional contractions may be her body trying to rid itself of the other placentas, and not an indication of one more puppy, but only time will tell.

Elsie is also doing GREAT! She's a Super Mom: attentive, tidy, fastidious about keeping all her babies clean and pottied (she's constantly licking them to stimulate them to pee and poo -- it's the only way neonates can relieve themselves), careful and gentle when walking around them. She's a terrific mom, and does nearly all the work for the first three weeks.

She is, however, extremely tired (12 hours of active labor). She's sound asleep right now, and the herd is nestled in with her nursing at will.

I'm incredibly thankful for our nine healthy babies. :o) Let's hope they stay that way.

I'll be back later (gotta nap, and change, while DH is home).

'Til later,
Joan