Joanna the Midwife

It all started the evening of April 27th. I had just returned from visiting my parents in North Carolina for about three weeks. Joanna said, "Mom, Tulsa is going to have her puppies tonight."
Tulsa is the best bred, most expensive sled dog in our kennel. Joanna had bred her to a male with excellent bloodlines in an effort to produce some fantastic racing dogs.
She had high hopes for these puppies. Earlier in the day, Joanna noticed that Tulsa had not eaten her supper which is an indication she would deliver soon. Joanna planned to stay up all night if necessary to offer Tulsa any needed assistance. John and I headed to bed about eleven o'clock, but we told Joanna to let us know if there were any problems.

From our downstairs bedroom, we could hear Joanna coming in at different times to put on warmer clothes since it was so cold. She stayed with her the whole time. Suddenly, at about 3:00 a.m. she came downstairs and tearfully explained that Tulsa had been in labor for quite a few hours and nothing was happening. Joanna has had a lot of experience helping puppies get delivered. She could feel the foot of a puppy that was stuck in breach position in the birth canal, but was unable to grab hold of it to help pull it out.
We called the vet in Dryden which was 2 hours away, waking him from a sound sleep. He kindly advised that the puppy in the birth canal was probably dead, but the ones left in the womb should still be okay for 12 hours. We planned to meet him at the clinic at 7:00 a.m.

We didn't want Tulsa to have to go through a C-section and all the complications that go with it. As John brought the Tahoe up to the dog yard and prepared to load Tulsa, Joanna thought she would check Tulsa one more time to see if there was any change. She cried out to the Lord for help. And He helped her. The puppy had moved down just a bit more so that Joanna could grab hold of one foot. She gently, but firmly pulled and the puppy came out ...ALIVE!!! We all shouted for joy. Then another one came soon after. In all, there were three puppies, however the last one died.

So, Tulsa has a male and a female, Vader and Leia (Star Wars theme). Both are healthy and growing fast with multiple choices for nourishment from Tulsa. What a smorgasbord!