It was a snowy white Christmas morning and my dog was expecting puppies any day. My sister and I got up at 6am because we could not wait any longer for Christmas.

When we woke up we realized that my dog Tilly was acting different than usual. She wanted to be right by us and did not want to leave the fuzziest rug in my house.

My mom explained to us that dogs create a "nest" when they are ready to have their puppies so she thought Tilly was in labor.

She had four little puppies that looked like rats. We took Tilly and her four little puppies to my grandmas for our Christmas party that afternoon to show off to my whole family. They were the hit of the party. 

My grandma noticed that one of the little puppies was very small and was not nursing like all the other puppies were. My mom told her she was just the runt of the litter and that she would keep an eye on her. About three days later we realized that all of the puppies were growing, but she was still tiny. 

We took her into our vet to figure out if something was wrong. The vet explained to my sisters and I that this little puppy had what was called a cleft lip and that she would probably not make it much longer. The best thing for us to do would be to wrap her up in a blanket to make her as comfortable as possible before she passed. Megan and I were devastated; we were not going to let this puppy die. 

My mom suggested that we tried tube feeding, this could help her get the nutrients she needed. We rotated every hour throughout the night feeding and caring for this little girl.