The Birth, the beautiful, the hard and why I will never go it alone

Whelping day is the one part of breeding that never gets easier, no matter how many times you’ve done it. You know the signs, the nesting, the restless shifting, the “don’t leave me but also don’t touch me” attitude, and that moment where she looks at you like, “Alright, we’re doing this.”

This time, though, I decided I wasn’t doing it alone.
I brought in a doggy doula, Chloe, and honestly, I will never whelp without her again.

She wasn’t there to take over.
She was just… calm. Steady.
The exact energy you need in a room when you’re trying to keep your shit together while also monitoring your dog’s life and eight unborn puppies at once.

Having her there meant I didn’t have to second guess every single contraction, every pause, every push. I didn’t have to be the only one deciding if what I was seeing was normal or if we needed to throw everyone in the car and fly to the vet. Just knowing someone experienced was there watching with me took such a huge weight off my shoulders.

Maya actually did beautifully. She stayed focused, she worked hard, she trusted both of us, and she delivered her puppies with the same quiet determination she has in the past.

But this whelp wasn’t without heartbreak.

Two puppies were born not for this earth.

We tried. God, we tried. Longer than people would think reasonable, probably. But you don’t give up easily when you’re holding a tiny life in your hands. And in the past, the hardest part for me was always the question that hangs over your head afterward, “Could I have done more?”

This time, I didn’t have to live with that question. Chloe was there. She saw everything I saw and she looked me in the eyes and said the words I needed to hear but couldn’t have said to myself:

“There was nothing more we could have done.”

That reassurance, that professional, experienced, calm confirmation meant everything. It allowed me to grieve without guilt, to focus on the puppies who were alive and healthy, and to support Maya without that awful, nagging feeling in the back of my mind.

By the time the last puppy arrived and Maya sprawled out to allow them to feed, exhausted but proud, I felt this massive mix of relief, sadness, gratitude, and awe.

Whelping will never be easy. It’s raw and emotional and unpredictable.
But having the right support in the room… That changes everything.