Our new adventure.....

[Laurief]

A very wise woman (from this forum) chatted with me yesterday and encouraged me to share in my new adventure, and the ups and downs it took to get here.....

I will start by saying that I have been owned by Havanese for more than 9 years now! Once Lily came into our home, there was no stopping the joy! And with each addition, we fell more and more in love with the breed As most of you know, I have been a member here on this forum for over 6 years now. I am an active member of Havanese Rescue and have posted over the years about our 11 wonderful fosters! I have two Havanese playdates a year (both of which are fundraisers), and this year, after many years of helping, am chairing the HRI Banquet/Auction at Nationals in Chicago. My Lexi and Logan are both certified therapy dogs and visit with nursing home residents, dementia patients, and are currently participating in a research project with Rutgers University to determine the benefits of therapy dogs with autistic children.

So.... you can see I love this breed!! The joy and love that these guys have given to us over the years, got me thinking years ago that I wanted to share that with others. Over 2 years ago I was blessed to have Laila come into our family. My intent was to start a breeding program. The UP was the excitement of this prospect - the DOWN was waiting till she was old enough and had all of her health testing. I swear that for the two years we health tested, I held my breath, as if my kids were taking a college entrance exam. This past October, Laila was given the green light. Baer, CERF, Patellas, Hips and CArdiac- all perfect!!!!

Her first heat came at the end of November and after much discussion and consultation with my breeder, and other breeders, her (health tested) stud was chosen. The "breeding" was not an easy one and I did not think it was a success. A big disappointment to me, but knew we would have other opportunities. 2 weeks after the breeding, Laila started acting different. Nothing overt, but slight changes. More lovey dovey - not wanting to eat breakfast till 3 hours after her normal time. Everyone, including my vets said "you cant tell that they are pregnant until at least 4-5 weeks" - well I knew different!!! At 4 weeks I had an ultrasound done and we found she WAS pregnant with 2 puppies (that they could see). I was overjoyed and excited!!! Then began the prenatal care!

Laila was due to have an Xray and final check up last Wednesday (30th) but appeared to be in labor that am. We rushed to the vet, they did an xray (confirming only two pups) and said, nope, her temp is up, she is NOT in labor. I went home - and during the rest of the day , her temp fell. Thursday morning, she went into full labor. She first delivered a tiny little girl (2.7oz), who struggled a bit. Laila went into hard labor so fast to deliver the second that I worked on the little girl, who was struggling to breath. Joey was born 1/2 later 4.45 oz. Sadly the little girl continued to struggle to we rushed to the vets where they worked on her for over 1/2 hour - but sadly she did not make it. Her placenta had broken away too early.
In one day to have such sadness and such joy! It was difficult!

So now we have the task of raising this gorgeous singleton boy!! Then the concern of how a first time Mommy will be kicks in. For the rest of that day, and the entire night, I woke up every 1 1/2 hours and put him on to nurse. AT 5am MATERNAL INSTINCT kicked in!!! Laila has been the perfect mother ever since!! I am so so proud of her.

So please welcome my sweet Joey (named after my grandfather) to our forum family !!

And Thank you dear friend for encouraging me to share our blessing!

[Pixiesmom]

Love his name! SO sad about little girl puppy, but Joey looks like a sweet little angel boy.
Are you sure you can't keep him??!!

[misstray]

Awww...what a love!

[emichel]

Oh Joey, I'm so sorry that you lost your sister, but I can tell that you are very loved. Thank you for sharing this, Laurie, it made me cry and smile at the same time.

[Beau's mom]

Congratulations, Laurie!!! What a wonderful experience! It's one that most of us will never have -- so, thank you for sharing!! Knowing you, this was not undertaken on a whim -- and I'm sure that you did a great deal of research. Can't believe that pretty little Laila is a Mommy. And, although it's pretty hard to tell in just-born pictures, he's sure to be a real cutie-patooty!!! Can't wait until he's ready for visitors!!!!

[atsilvers27]

Such sadness and joy at the same time! Who is the father?

[Sheri]

Congratulations on the little boy! (And sorry for the loss of the little girl.)

[dodrop82]

Congratulations on your Baby Boy, and tears for your baby girl....XXOO!!

[Missy]

What an adventure! I know "you've got me on my knees "will be a great mom. And you a great breeder. Yay Joey.

[gertchie]

Welcome to the world Joey...you are a beautiful boy!