Personal Narrative: Dog Labor

“You have got to push!” I whispered to her. She was breathing heavy, with her pink tongue hanging out. Globs of saliva slid off. The babies already delivered lay under her crying for their mother's attention. They were ugly little things, looking more like rats than puppies. The total of two had a tint of green to their white fur, covered in mucus. To prepare for my dogs labor, I googled every possible thing that could go wrong when a dog was giving birth. Knowing what I know now, I probably would’ve looked more into it.
“Domonic. It's been two hours. I think she should've had another puppy by now.” I said with urgency to my step dad. It was normal for dogs to have at least seven puppies, at intervals of 30 to 45 minutes. I can remember when
What!” My voice cracked and my mouth had an awful taste. My hair was matted in sweat. Brushing the wisps off of my face and peeling my sticky legs off the leather couch, I looked towards the area where Tawanka once laid. She was nowhere to be seen. Her puppies were dozed off, wrapped in a ragged towel. My brother was shoving his heels into his Nikes.
“Rocco, what is going on? I must've fell asleep...” I mumbled the last part to myself.
“We have to take Tawanka to the vet.” Rocco was always smiling, with a wide grin causing his brown eyes to wrinkled in the corners . Seldom did I ever see his eyes filled with tears and his mouth frowned at the corners. This happened to be one of those moments.
“Awe man. Who's going to watch the puppies?” I glanced to the puppies shaped like a burrito. The only thing visible was their closed eyes and red nose.
“Mom and Alysia. You and I have to keep Tawanka calm during the car ride, I guess.”
“What time is it?” Walking towards the Surburban, I observed Dominic shoving comforters in between the two seats in the back. Tawanka sat by his feet, panting.
“I can’t believe it's been 4 hours since she has had a baby! What is wrong with
She's going to have her puppies in the car. I just know it. She would probably have a tough time keeping her footing, ya know? Like, she would probably tip over because this Suburban isn't the most luxurious car. That would be awful. Could you imagine? I couldn't. And...” I rambled when I was clearly stressed and/or having a panic attack.
“Nina, can you just calm down?” Rocco snapped at me. His tone and words was like a slap in the face, somewhat calming me and bringing me back to reality. Arriving at the vet's office was scary. You never knew what could happen. It’s cute building, looking like a cabin. It’s walls were made of pine, and many widows. Walking in, it smelt like dog and cinnamon. An apple pie candle was lit near an overly cheery woman greeted us. She had her hair slicked back into a ponytail, a pair of round glasses that framed her square face, and a pointy nose. Her mouth looked like it was permanently creased from smiling too much.
“Hello! Hellooo! She greeted both us and the dog, but needed to accentuate the “o” when talking to the animal. Tawanka did not look impressed. The car ride took a lot of energy out of her. Her brown eyes stayed