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“Let’s see if we can look it up on the Internet.”
“You can take your coat off first. I’m sorry. And I can get you something to drink. Are you hungry?” Ellen seemed to remember that it was polite to offer all those things, and she did them in a rush.
“Let’s take care of Chewy first. Although, maybe I’ll wash my hands, just because that seems like a good idea.” He thought if Chewy needed help, they should have clean hands, but he didn’t want to add to Ellen’s anxiety by suggesting that something might go wrong.
After he had washed and dried his hands, he knelt down beside Ellen, his eyes on Chewy before he grabbed his phone and searched what to do for a dog in labor.
He read through several articles, since in his experience information on the Internet was not always extremely accurate, and it made sense to see what the general consensus was.
“I think maybe we just need to let nature take its course.” He rattled off a few things that they were to look for if Chewy was in distress, but she wasn’t displaying any of the signs, other than pushing with no sign of a puppy emerging from the birth canal.
“We should give her more time then?” Ellen asked, the wrinkle in her brows showing her worry and concern.
“Yeah. I think so.”
He said that, but he wasn’t entirely sure. It seemed like they should be seeing a puppy soon. And if not... He picked his phone back up and read through a few of the things that they said to do if the dog was in distress and the puppy didn’t appear.
Another fifteen minutes ticked by, as Ellen stroked Chewy’s side and held her breath every time she pushed.
“Here. Hold this.” He handed her his phone. Ellen had more experience with delivering animal babies than he did, but sometimes when a person was attached to something and emotionally involved, they didn’t perform as well. He thought Ellen could have a cool head no matter what, but he also thought that since he was her friend, he should do it for her.
The next time Chewy tried to push, he moved her tail aside and slipped two fingers into the birth canal.
All he could feel was something solid and slippery, and he assumed it was the puppy, still in the birth sac.
He thought that was a good thing, that the sac hadn’t ruptured, but from the way it felt, he thought that perhaps the puppy was sideways in the birth canal or maybe just had its head twisted.
“Does it feel okay?” Ellen asked as Chewy quit pushing and lay there panting.
It was hard to follow her body as it heaved up and down with each breath. But he tried to keep his fingers steady as they felt around, and he tried to make sure that what he thought he felt was actually what he felt.
“Yeah. I think there might be just a little twist, and I’m going to try to move the body so that it’s not blocking the birth canal.”
“It’s stuck?”
He had kind of said that in a roundabout way, but he didn’t want to increase the panic he heard in her voice. “I think so. But not badly stuck. Just a little twisted.”
“All right,” Ellen said softly, and he loved the trust in her voice. Like she believed him when he said it, and also had faith that he could fix it.
Lord, help me to do the right thing.
He had no idea if he was moving it the right way or not; he could be making things worse.
But he was here to help. He had left the business meeting as soon as Ellen had texted him. He’d known she was alone, watching the children tonight, and he’d already been a little worried about her with the blizzard moving in. Most likely, they would lose electricity, and while he knew that Ellen was an old hand at using the woodstove, he hated the thought that she would be there by herself, unable to get in or out and unable to get help if she needed it.
Chewy being in labor was the icing on the cake, and Travis had told Ford what was going on. As he figured, Ford had told him to go right away.
The roads had been fine halfway back to Sweet Water, until he’d hit the edge of the blizzard.
Still, he’d driven in his share of snow, being from North Dakota, and he made it to Ellen with no problem.
Of course, he knew she was going to be fine, but maybe part of the reason that he wanted to go was because he knew that he was leaving the country, probably for several years.
He hadn’t told Ellen. He hadn’t quite gotten over the disappointment himself. He had thought once Ellen turned eighteen, he could court her the way she deserved and be the boyfriend he wanted to be, rather than the good friend he had been.
Unfortunately, it didn’t look like that was going to happen for him for several years.
It had been a long time since he talked to Ellen about his feelings. They’d agreed to be friends, and he’d been the best friend he could be.
