Today I am just going to copy the diary entry that I have put on my Razzle website. After that, I will try to use this site, to write other little comments. I will put the link to my kitten diaries at the end of this.
Wednesday 7th FebruaryI have not written before now, because things did not go quite to plan, and I was totally shattered, Last night I just could not face anything, I just wanted to curl up, by Lil and the kittens, and to be honest, that was all I wanted to do, until the middle of this afternoon, which was day 2. I felt tired, and emotionally drained. But also, Lil would not sit with babies, if I was not lying there, with my head in view, and often arms cuddling her in her box. If I was not there, she would not stay with babies. But I must start at the beginning.
Monday morning, I was really not expecting babies until Wednesday, if I am honest. Lily has always been late with her babies. So at 07:45 when I noticed a streak of bloody mucus across her face, alarm bells began to ring. I was still in my shorts and t shirt that I wear in bed, I had neither eaten nor drunk anything at this stage, and was trying to get the kids ready for school. Fortuately I had arranged for their dad to be here, so that I did not have to drive them to school. Otherwise, neither of them would have gone in on Monday.
I made sure the boys had everything that they needed for school, and headed upstairs with Lil. I was hoping things were going to go smoothly, because I had neither washed, dressed, or done anything for myself. Lily started her contractions, just as she has in previous pregnancies, so I was hopeful for baby no 1 within at least 2 hours. Unfortunately things did not happen that way.
To start with, Lil was happy to lay in her box, while I rubbed her tummy, and reassured her. I was kneeling over the box, the whole time, a design fault that will have to be changed!!! So my legs are aching a lot today. She started to get really agitated, and we went through the normal routine where she went in and out of the litter tray, as she thought the pushing sensation meant she needed the toilet. I managed to get her to relax again, this was after about 2 hours now. And felt relieved, as I saw the sack for baby no 1 arriving, and I thought we were nearly there.......... Lil bent down to clean it, and with the action, the sack went back inside her body. After this, she became really really agitated.
I tried to reassure and calm her, but I felt I was not achieving too much. Her contractions then stopped, and after an hour, I realised that I needed to do something. I rang Gill Watson, she is the owner of the daddy to these babies, and a great help to me. She told me what I already suspected, that I needed to ring the vets. By this stage, I was shaking quite badly, and I felt tears were on the verge of coming out. So I took a deep breath, and rang the vets. They told me to take her straight down.
I hastily dressed, put on some darkish sunglasses, as I did not trust myself with the tears. I was shaking badly by this point. I just wanted every other car on the road to get out of the way.
The vet took us through and examined Lil. She told me what I suspected would be the case, she needed an injection of Oxytocin, to help start her labour again. I was told to leave her at the vets, and they would ring me as things happened. That was hard. I did not want to leave her, as she needed me to be close. But I had no choice. It was a tearful me that left the surgery. But I took the sensible route and had a shower, which helped to clear my mind. As soon as I had finished the vet rang me.
They said that Lil had delivered the first baby, but unfortunately it has not survived. That was not a good feeling, and by now, I was feeling quite numb. The next phone call, said she had delivered another baby, and this one was ok. I was told to wait an hour before ringing again. But as I had to go collect the boys from school, I actually went into the vets. They took me through to see Lil. She had 3 live babies, but sadly, had lost a second. This was so very sad, and I felt dreadful as I drove to collect the boys from school. The first thing the boys asked me, when I collected them, was how many kittens and how was Lil, which meant I had to give them the sad news.
We then made our way to the vets to collect Lily, and what we thought was 3 kittens. When we went in, we were greeted by lots of nurses. I was then told, and this was totally unexpected, that Lil now had 5 kittens!This took me so much by surprise, and I did lose my self control at this point, and felt the tears prickling my eyes. My dear, darling Lil, and she had had to go through all this without me. I confess I gave one of the nurses a big tearful hug, I just couldn't believe it when he told me she now had 5. Poor darling Lil, she has delivered 7 babies, lost 2 of them, and has 5, and she had to do all that without me.
We transferred them all into our large basket, amidst lots of thankyous to everyone for looking after them, and then we were off back home.
I am going to summarise now, for Tuesday and Monday night.
Lil took a while to settle with these babies, which surprised me, as the one thing she has always been good at, is bonding with her litters. But she did not want to settle in this room with the kittens. This is a horrible feeling, because you know that she must sit with them.
I resorted to laying on the floor, next to her box, on Monday night, often with my head in the box. She, bless her, purred, and washed my face for me! And as long as I stayed like that, she stayed with the babies.
I had a cold and uncomfy night, and a hungry one, as I realised that I had not got round to eating during the day! And when I woke up on Tuesday morning, it was a case of crawling off the floor, getting the children ready for school, and sending them off with their dad. I spent the rest of the day, until the boys came home from school, laying here with Lily, encouraging her to stay with babies. This seemed to pay off, and by the evening, I would say that she was much more comfortable and settled.
I had a sleepless night though. The kittens were squeaking lots, she kept feeding them and washing them, and they were active little things, fighting over the nipples!! They certainly have plenty of spirit in them! Timothy, must have a mention, when he has been here, he has amazing patience, and has spent a lot of time, sitting with them and making sure that they are latched on.
lily is with them at the moment, giving them a good wash, and they are protesting with the little squeaks that kittens have, I am sat next to her, with News 24 on the television. I find that at this stage of having kittens, 24 hours news is invaluable, as it keeps my mind awake, and the noise in the background, helps to block out the sound of the other 4 cats, leaping around on the landing outside my room. I want her to stay settled, so if she cannot hear them, it helps. I hope I am not driving my neighbours nuts by having it on all the time. But it is only for a short period of time.
I will sign off for now, tomorrow I hopefully will get back into the routine of normal daily entries. I am attaching a few photos, but I can only send a few across. My internet connection is a bit erratic at the moment, and it is proving difficult to mail larger files across. By the weekend the problem should be rectified.
2 comments:
What an ordeal you have been through! Thank God for the Vets, but how sad you couldn't be with Lil. I hope she and the babies are settling down into a relaxed rhythm now, and that you get some well deserved rest. I know how you worry about your beloved cats and that your nerves have been frayed by all these problems. Lil is lucky to have such a loving and caring human friend.
Best of luck with your new family, Lil.
Thankyou Sue, for all your kind words. I am so glad that we are a few days further down the road now, and that Lily now adores her babies. She is a very special cat, and I am lucky to be loved by her
Post a Comment