Day 63: Contractions, But She's Takin' Her Sweet Time

Maybe it's that she's older.

Maybe I don't remember her last labors well (it's been nearly 3 years).

Maybe it's that I'm older and have had so little sleep since Friday.

And maybe it's that I know too well what can go wrong.

I don't know what it is, but Elsie's futzing around in Stage One for five days and now taking a half-a-day (or more) to get into a good solid rhythm of contractions from her first contractions early this morning (to move into hard contractions at all) is just about killing me.

Okay, so "killing me" might be hyperbole, but you get it.

I want these puppies out safely, and I want them out now.

End of rant.

Dear Sweet Elsie Girl (DSEG) is taking a beauty nap as I write this.  She's panting slightly, but otherwise unperturbed. We haven't seen any more discharge nor any more contractions since mid-morning. 

And she's fine.

If she were straining and not producing, we'd be worried. If we'd seen the big gush of her waters breaking and still didn't see more active contractions, we'd be worried. If we saw "red flag" colors in the little discharge she's produced, we'd be worried.  If the puppies had stopped kicking, we'd be worried.

But none of these has happened.

Elsie hit the pause button again. She's morphed into a dam I've never helped birth puppies before (this whelping process is night-and-day different from her last two whelpings).

Thankfully our vet has tons of experience with this other kind of dam, so he's not worrying yet (he trusts us, too, though I have no idea why).

And between the vet's and Elsie's complete calm about all this, I'm going to stay calm. And patient (I think I can;  I think I can; I think I can...).

At least I'm telling myself that.

So here we are again, waiting for events beyond our control. 

And here I am again, waiting and wondering and wishing I could do something to make things happen and to ensure things turn out okay (but I can't).

Sounds a lot like life. 

Oh, yeah, it is life.

Guess I forgot.  Must be my lack of sleep.

Stay tuned.

Joan