Hi there- my girl who has had 2 litters before with no problems is showing different signs this time and things aren't progressing as they did before and would like some advice please from people who have been through or know about this please.

My springer mum on tuesday afternoon ( it is thursday lunchtime now)started panting etc heavy breathing pacing about etc but her temperature didn't totally drop till wed morn to 98.6 and then later in evening when i took it againit was 98.2 but all during the day on and off she had been digging, sleeping, bouts of very laboured breathing etc which on both previous times went on to next stage of producing puppies. However, this time the only pattern she is having is that she seems to sleep and idg and pant and then these about hour long times of grunty heavy breathing and discomfort and often lying on her back looking tired, fed up nad worn out.

we keep thinking when she goes through that, it is about to progresss as before to a pup being on the way but then it stops again.
however, the tempwhich originally dropped over 24 hours ago has now started to rise......and she is now just being totally calm with only gentler vague stages of light breathing.

the vet didn't seem to make any mentionor notice of her temeperature- it didn't appear that she even knew that the temperature did drop prior to whelping. she said she is 'fairly open' but as her due date isn't till tomorrow and there is no discharge or anything then to wait and see.

just want to check that is right- my concerns are that my sister had a bitch who didn't ever seem to push and then had oxytocin and 2 pups arrived and then all seemed finished with but when taken to vet the next day, 2 more pups were found in there which had to be born by c section.  - 1 of which was dead and had twisted in the womb- pups were all double normal average size for that breed
this dog's temp dropped but she never seemed to get to next stage and she had concerns that something wasn't right but vets thought it would ust progress normally. obvioulsy this experience is affecting me and i am wonderign whaether to press the vet to invstigate more or wait till tomorrow.

what do you know re temperature rising before pups are born is that normal? any other advice please

I would say it was quite normal, my bitch did exactly the same & went on to have a healthy litter. I have also had a bitch who's temp never dropped so she caught me out a little.

If the bitch's temperature rises to normal or above after dropping, then I would want them opened up and the pups out.

If a bitch has done first stages and panting bed shredding etc, then gone quiet they then usually get on with second stage. IF they dont, usually its interia.  In these cases pups need to be removed as quick as possible or you could loose them.  Inertia is where the uterus does not expel a puppy. Sometimes the cervix opens up but then nothing happens with the uterus. 
Rachel

Thats why I was concerned- as i know what the normnal stages of things are with my dogs but this time, it wasn't right and she seemed distressed and getting worn out. After coming back from Vet, I phoned again and discussed my concerns and the options. she said she would advise to wait another day and she if she started again- by this time she had stopped everything for the whole morning with nothing happenning.
Then I noticed the bright green black liquid dripping from her and so rang the vet who said come in straight away. She was given oxytocin and was violently sick and could see her whole belly contract but she didn't push at all whereas the vet said, normally a bitch would and then gave her a 2nd injection saying that if that didn't work then she would have a caesarean- Thankfully her first little boy was born then- after her 2nd violent vomiting(!) she then came home to continue in her natural environment at home,( instead of in a vet room with people peering through windows nad hearing dogs coming in , barking and howling etc) and through the night went on to have a lovely litter of 9 pups( same as her 2 previous times) and true to form she is doing wonderfully well. Phew. Thanks to all for comments.

My bitch (now departed) had two litters no problem.  After a gap of 3 years she was expecting her third and her due date came and went, and she started nest making panting etc which continued for two days ans on the third she had a C section for 4 pups of which I lost one.  Her previous litters had been of 7 pups.

I have never taken temperatures as going by those experiences I have heard of just seems to confuse the issue even more.

That's such good news :-) glad to hear all was OK in the end and Mum and babies are doing fine ;-) Must admit I tried the temp taking last time and it didn't work for me it was all over the place for about 4 days before she whelped.

Phew, glad to hear all went well in the end!