PRobably not so easy deliveRy

On Monday 15th of January I had to be at work as usual. Unfortunately there was no chance to change shifts with a friend. So I left for work to start at 3 p.m.. As soon as I reached work I got a call from Tomek that Elmas waters broke. The only thing I could do was to keep my fingers crossed so our previous experiences are enough so he can handle it on his own.

So far Tomek had to take care of only one delivery by himself. It was with litter D, when Whisper didn’t wait for my return from Sout Africa on Monday and kittens arrived on Friday. I remember that was our longest and most expensive foreign call, when I tried to explain what to do on the phone. Luckily with some help of my Mom he managed everything and the whole four – Whisper and her three babies welcomed me after I got back home. I hoped this time also everything will be well.

Elmirka and litter P

But I honestly admit that it was a great stress for me to stay at work knowing that over a dozen streets away Elma is awaiting her offspring. Receiving patients and visits kept my mind occupied. But when waiting room got empty and there was still few hours left until closing time, my thoughts were back home and my ear at the phone. When after hour and a half Elmirka still didn’t deliver any kitten I was getting worried. According to Tomek she was walking on our bed, digging the sheets and she couldn’t find a place to stay. And so far everything happened rather fast with her previous parturitions. I was being consumed by stress… Luckily around 5 p.m. Tomek called to say he just got a first one. He managed to tie up the umbilical cord and weight the kitten. After around 30 minutes another news that second one is there. My husband again approved himself and despite all his nervousness and stress he had being alone this time, he handled it excellent. Thought that I should be there was filling up my head. Luckily, I received a message from a friend dr Agata who was on her way to change me at work. I could get ready for home (and once again much thanks for her to that, as it meant a lot for me).

Fast changing my scrub, quick way home – even as for my crazy driving, Tomek on the phone saying that maybe I will make it to welcome the third kitten and… hang out as I probably won’t. At home I managed to take of the clothes, wash my hands and help Tomek with the last kitten which wasn’t really eager to come out. Luckily I got back on time and had the opportunity to tie at least one umbilical cord. All three little ones – two boys and girl –  had a similar weight – both right after birth and after getting dry (wet kitten and dry kitten weight vary 😉 ). Elma seemed in shape, despite the fact she got to eat two placenta out of three. Unfortunately having only two hands Tomek wasn’t able to take those away on time. Since Whisper got sick after such a meal with her first litter we try to avoid that kind of situation. We got Elma some pate for baby kittens to supply her with calories she burnt during parturition.

Unfortunately at night when we were all in bed and I was having a nap in standby mode troubles occurred. Tomek woke me up saying Elmirka probably wasn’t feeling well because she licks her lips. As soon as I opened my eyes I saw a juicy vomit from our girl. It’s not something a person would like to see while waking up.  Thanks to fast administration of antiemetic drug I had at home, it was it. Elma just went to sleep without any more surprises. Of course in a new clean bed. After all it’s good that our cats like to give birth in a cardboard box. Especially when it’s easy to get rid of it without regret.

Next day Elmirka was acting normal, had good appetite, was drinking, was taking care of the kittens. I was hoping this was just a single issue and she will recover soon without any help. Unfotunately her babies turned out to be a problem as their weight gain wasn’t as high as we expected. They happened to fight over a nipple and cry during it. We considered tube fattening as we suspected Elma may have not enough milk. We were afraid something was wrong with them. I blamed myself, that I wasn’t there when they came to the world, because maybe we’ve missed something. I didn’t want to rush to the clinic, where lately we also had some patients with contagious diseases. We decided to wait one more day and if there is no improvement with the little ones – act.

In the morning kitchen scale showed up that kittens gained some weight since last time but we were still worried as it wasn’t good enough. Elmirka wasn’t bad, was eating more than usual – which was normal as she was lactating, she was taking good care of the little ones, used the litter box and didn’t show any disturbing sings. But she couldn’t hide things from me. I got an impression she was a bit dehydrated and more tired in comparison with previous day. We drove to the clinic just for medicine (without the cats). At home I got Elma i.v. catether, got her on fluids and electrolytes. She also go some vitamin supplements and calming herbal supplements orally. After only an hour Elma seemed better. Maybe someone else wouldn’t spot a difference but for me it was clear. Evening check up on kittens showed their weight increased much more than before.

Just in case we left i.v. catheter and observed Elmirka for some time before taking it of. Our momma was way more active. Not only while taking care of the kittens but she also left their booth just to check around. Little fluffy babies were getting bigger between measurements. Next day it was clear situation stabilized. We got the catheter off as everything was headed the right way.

Helen and litter R

Slowly we were trying to get ready for Helen. On Thurday evening she started to search for a spot to have her kittens. During night we were taking turns in keeping eye on her. But Hela was cruel enough to set us up and she slept the entire night. On Friday, when I got back from morning shift I’ve noticed she was “wearing” her belly a bit lower than before which happens before giving birth. Tomek said she will deliver soon. But again Helen had something else to say about that which was – not today.

On Saturday since morning Helen couldn’t stop digging our sheets in bed. Because our “parturition” sheet (meaning – full of holes) was drying up after laundry and I didn’t want another one ruined, I decided to stay with her. First to calm her down a bit, second to save our bedding. After a short while Helen lied down next to mem cuddled and… went to sleep. Later she took few breaks for litter box, meal, trips around the house and digging in bed. In the end she still came to me and took another nap.

In the evening, when I was done working on laptop I started to watch a movie. Helen decided the time has come. All the equipment was already ready so I just called Tomek who was working in his office down the hallway. he came, sat with us for fifteen minutes and when Helen went to sleep again he went back to his room. And she did that a couple of times since then. I watched half of the movie before the parturition actually began.

First little one turned out to be a girl. She was pretty big and weight 103 grams. She was coming out with her head first. At the beginning the only thing I saw a nose and tongue sticking out of Helen before the girl actually came to this world. Ligating umbilical cord, weighting took a moment while Helen was taking care of herself. Later we gave her the kitten. She even didn’t have any previous contractions before she gave birth to another kitten. Third came out just few minutes later. Maybe it was that fast, because those two girls were adequate 98 and 99 grams.

Before we made it to weigh the last one, we had to ligate the umbilical cord  and dry her fur a bit. As soon as I took her along with placenta I’ve noticed she’s not breathing and turns blue. Quickly I opened her mouth, removed remaining amniotic fluid, sucked rest of it trough her nostrils and began to massage her entire body. Little one got her first breath, squealed and got some colors. Unfortunately after a moment she didn’t catch another one and got more blue again. Little part inside me started to fear that maybe it won’t work, but I didn’t allow it in my mind cuz I had to get it to work. Once again I chacked for any fluids in the kittens mouth and nose. I shaked her a bit to remove out any possible fluid in her airways. I rubbed on her nose and mouth with a towel to stimulate vagus nerve which is also responsible for breathing. I started intense massage. After a minute she started to get colors and breath! After another one she was crying for her mom and food. We both felt relieved. We new that from now on we will watch over her a bit more than others in the upcoming days.

This time we were both with Tomek which was additional pair of hands. Everything was efficiently and fast so Helen can get her kittens soon enough. We even managed to take away all the placenta to avoid problem we had with Elmirka. But we still knew that following nights we will spend on standby mode, getting up few times to check up on both Helen’s and Elma’s kittens. We reacted on every cry, we verified if they all drink and if the smaller ones have access to the nipples with more milk.

At first we had both girls taking care of their babies apart from each other. But we wanted to give them a chance to complement each other in their mother duties as soon as the are settled. It wasn’t a problem at all, they got along right away. Despite our worries they didn’t try to steal each other kittens, didn’t fight over anything. It was clear they felt good with each other 🙂

But at first it wasn’t all that clear. When we took Helen to the cat room, where Elma was, Hela wasn’t really ok with that right away. She took all her babies back to the bedroom one by one.

It was strange thing to do because right after she left the kittens in our bed… she went back to the cat room and stayed with Elma. In the end we had to bring her babies back to her in cat room.

Both girls were taking care of the kittens together. Elma was taking care none of the kittens crawls out their bed. When any of the slithered out – she took it right back.

Even Cody came to see his children and help a bit – he washed them, assisted girls in their own cleaning and for example lick their ears 🙂 And when our two mothers needed some rest from the babies, they got out of the bed and jumped up to a booth on the closet. Once even Cody decided to join. I was lucky and quick enough to catch it in the photo.