Gabbi

This is a very difficult update to share. I've struggled to find the words to write this at all. I'm sorry it has taken so long to let you all know what's going on.

On February 27th, we once again took Gabbi to the urgent care center where she had her C-section. It had been exactly 1 week since her surgery, and it was the day she was released from exercise restrictions. That day, she seemed a little off. Nothing major, but she just seemed to be tired. We wanted to play it safe, so we called and made an appointment for that afternoon. Gabbi had been perfect all week. She was taking great care of her puppies; she was getting plenty of milk in, and we stopped supplementing with formula. There were zero signs that she was experiencing any pain. The only bump in her road to recovery was that first night when she passed out on us and wasn't able to get up for some time. At the time, we believed it was caused by delayed effects from anesthesia and low blood sugar. We now believe she was bleeding internally, post surgery, and it clotted and stopped overnight. Gabbi was still just acting a little tired when we got her in the car to take her to see her surgeon. She was sitting up, looking at things out the window, and acting normal on the drive there.  Until we were about 10 minutes from the clinic. She passed out without warning. She had stood up on the back seat, and she fell into the floorboard. She hit the back of my seat hard. She was awake right away, but she couldn't get up. I called the clinic and let them know. We pulled up to the front and were met by several people ready to help rush Gabbi inside. We had to inch her out of the back floorboard because she couldn't use her legs, and she was wedged in pretty good. It was so hard to see her like that. Gabbi was rushed in to be examined, and we went to a room to wait. Her vet came into the room just a few minutes after we got in there and said that an ultrasound showed Gabbi's abdomen was full of blood. The clot that had formed had broken free, and she was bleeding internally again. She immediately went into her second emergency surgery in a week. Gabbi had lost a lot of blood. She made it through the surgery, but she desperately needed a blood transfusion. We were informed that the chances were low that she could make it out of this without lasting damage to her organs. They let us know that, even if she received a transfusion and it went perfectly, she still only had a 50/50 chance of survival. We held onto hope and waited as they brought in a donor dog and started the process. Unfortunately, Gabbi had lost too much blood, and she didn't make it through the transfusion. We were in complete shock and just devastated. Gabbi was such a special member of our family. We are heartbroken, not only for ourselves but for her eight puppies. There just aren't words to describe how much we miss her and how difficult this has been. 

Maybe it was a good thing, but there wasn't time to stop and grieve the loss of our sweet, beautiful Gabbi. Her puppies were one week old and needed round-the-clock care. Eight little lives are now in my hands. Eight little bottles. Eight little mouths to feed with a synthetic nipple when they want their momma. Eight tiny puppies that can't eliminate on their own. At first, it took over two hours to feed and clean all of them. Basically, when the last one was full, clean, and warm, it was time to start over. Now we are feeding every three hours throughout the day, and they are better at latching on to the bottle. It only takes about an hour to feed the whole litter. 30 minutes when two of us feed at the same time. It's getting easier. The puppies are doing well and gaining weight properly. We have them on a high-quality formula, and we're doing everything we can to give them the best care possible. No matter how hard or how little sleep I get, I will do right by Gabbi and bring up these beautiful puppies the way she would want.