Hi Michelle...hugs to you! When I went to bed last night, I was thinking of you and your situation and how stressed out you are. I am worried about you as stress lowers the immune system and causes illness and I sure don't want you to get sick! Like they say when people have babies...sleep when the baby sleeps...even a 15 minute nap will help revive you. Also, it probably wouldn't hurt to take some vitamins. I'm glad your husband is helping, but I wish you could find more help! I am thinking of you so much and remembering you in my prayers! Best wishes to you and your little ones and get well wishes to Bitsy! Remember...take care of YOU also!

I hate to over do it, but THANK YOU ALL again! I wish I could thank every one of you personally! My car just got fixed. I put Bitsy back in with the pups a little while ago but only for a short while. Maybe if I just put her in there once every six to eight hours and supplement with the bottle in between they can make it and so can she until they start the puppy food. I'm watching her like a hawk! It seems like if I feed her right afterwards and give her some of the puppy milk she doesn't look quite so bad. She's resting again at my feet and panting but it hasn't gotten worse. Looking back, she panted a lot like this through her whole pregnancy, because of the extra weight I guess. Thanks Kp-23! My little six pounder got big! I'll just never forget the shape she was in on Sunday night and how scarey it was and how she looked. I am exhausted, mentally and physically. I'm going to get my son at school and then coming home and try and take a little nap with Bitsy as I do not feel well. I'm not even thinking clearly.Thanks Connie! Poor thing isn't resting unless I'm sitting down. She follows me.

Ttreatsyorkies....Thanks for the tips on the bottle feeding. I will certainly use the advice next time I feed!

Michelle, here's hoping you can get some sleep. Is there ANY way you can wrap mom with say, an ace bandage snugly but not tight? Then you can put her in with her babies. I am sure her panting is a normal reaction to the stress and pain of breast engorgement. The bandage will help her to re-absorb the milk. And, like YR said, you hafta cut back on her food and water if you want her to produce less milk. One of my girls had such engorgement after she weaned her litter. I wrapped her and then every couple of hours I would put a warm washcloth in saran wrap inside of the wrap with one layer of wrap between the heat source and her skin. You might try putting ice cubes down for her so she can refresh and quench her thirst but will not get so much liquid. I cannot imagine having to stay away from her babies. Yorkies will kill or die for their babies and that makes them good moms. I feel so sad for her..

Are you checking to make SURE she does not get like hard nots around her nipples?? If she does, you must take care of it right away. You can warm a wet wash cloth in the micro wave and put on her, them knead each knot and express the milk out. I hope the vet told you to watch for that, I am so sorry I forgot to mention that....that will make her pant and is very painful.

Angie

I really hate to hear what all you are going through. I live just outside of Winston-Salem, I use to live in Harrisburg (Speedway) and if I can be of any help whatsoever just email me at slphillips37@aol.com and I will be more than happy to help.

Good Luck!

Sonya

I just found this in my favorites........you may want to look through it, I didn't have it until after I was finished, but saved it for future possibility problems. http://www.cupidtownshowdogs.net/tipsonhandraising.html

Angie

Good Morning Everyone!
 

I just caught up on all the post and thankfully had a good nights rest! :) Bitsy and the pups seem to be doing good this morning. I did the warm compresses on Bitsy's teats last night and there is one that I have concern about. It doesn't feel hard though and she doesn't act in pain with it but it just looks a little weird. The nipple is inverted so the pups can't suck on it. I'm going to try and see if I can express milk from it and massage it with a warm compress. I may take her in to have it checked today if it doesn't look any better. The other teats look better since I've been letting the puppies nurse every six hours or so. Bitsy's panting is not near as bad since we started feeding her and giving her puppy milk immediately after nursing. I'm happy about that and Bitsy and the pups appear to be happier too:) Hopefully, this can continue for the next week or so and we can start the puppies on puppy food (they will be three weeks old on Friday) and decrease the nursing more and more until they are completely weaned. We try to bottle feed the pups in between the nursing but the pups seem content with feeding every six hours with Bitsy and don't act hungry in between. I hope that's ok!!! Bitsy slept peacefully in our bed last night and was not anxious about the pups like the night before. I'm going to try the ace bandage/plastic wrap/warm towel with Bitsy and feeding her less as the pups are weaning! The vet had given me no instructions or warning signs to look for on that subject either :mad: I'm also glad I went against the vets advice to totally remove Bitsy from the pups. It wasn't working! I would have done it if it meant her life of course, but my gut instinct felt that there has to be a way to make things work without doing that to her or the pups. So far so good! Bitsy is responding well to the changes we made and I think the puppies are too and stand a much better chance at living than when we were trying to bottle feed and do everything ourselves!! I think Bitsy tried to take her puppies out of our hands when we were bottle feeding and we wouldn't let her nurse because SHE KNEW we weren't doing it right:) You are right, she would kill or die for these puppies! Don't know what I'd do without all of the advice from everyone here!!!

Your thoughts and prayers are being answered because things are beginning to look better!!! :)

I have one more piece of advice...grate 1/2 of an oyster shell calcium on mom's food 2 times a day.. It has no taste so she will not reject it...

Hi Michelle! I'm so glad you got a good nights rest and that surely does a body good! I'm also so glad to hear things are looking up with Bitsy and the puppies! I think of you so much and check back often for updates and today is definitely looking better! Great job...best wishes!

Whispersmom---Would I get the oyster shell calcium in the health food store? And is there a certain milligram size I need to get? And would that be safe to give in addition to the perscription calcium tab that she gets every eight hours from the vet? Here is what her perscription says:

Give 1/4 Tums E-X tablet (750 mg CaCO3/tablet) orally every 8 hours for 10 days. You can buy this at any drug store once the prescritpion runs out.

Thank you connie :)

:thumbup: Good job, Michelle!!! ;)

If you have a farm feed/supply store in your area you can purchase calcium powder that can be sprinkled on her food. It is ground up bone meal and oyster shells. It comes in plastic packages and works very well.

Michelle
I'm soooo glad to hear thinkings are looking up. :) You are such a good yorkie mom . Glad to hear you got much needed rest and Bitsy and her babies too.
Keeping you and your family in my thoughts and prayers.

I am so sorry about your eclampsia, I had it too. Sounds like you have it all under control, your a good yorkie mom. Its a lot of work but rewards out weigh the sleepless nights.

17 days after the puppies were born, rushed Hattie in 4:00Am new years morning they IV'd her and an hour later we were back home. I didnt let her nurse at all, so 4 babies were bottle fed until 5 weeks old. to tell them apart I bought the colored cloth hair bands and as they grew I changed them to larger ones. My last babies we called purple guy, blue guy, pink gal and yellow guy till then were weaned:) As well I wrapped her chest with ace bandage and then a premie baby nightshirt so she could still sleep with them. To keep her an active part she was happy to do all the preening and the pottie cleaning, she loved licking the milk off their face. I gave her 1/2 tab of tums daily for about 3 weeks and she is as good as new.