retained kittens/interrupted labor

[ohnobugzilla]

I took in a few foster cats for an individual, one of them was pregnant and gave birth Friday morning, she had 4 kittens all within about an hour. She came out of her nest after 3 hours of nursing to socialize with us and get loves and food. And ate a TON. I felt her belly and still felt what I thought was a kitten kicking around inside of her. I called my vet and they suggested I bring her in right away and even though I can't afford that at this time I got the carrier out and prepared to take them in, when I picked her up the lump was gone, I thought maybe she had retained a placenta and had passed it while I wasn't looking so we didn't go in.
The next morning I checked and them and four kittens turned into five, she had another in the middle of the night over 12 hours later. I felt her belly again and felt a lump again but figured she had to be done at this point and that maybe her uterus was just swollen. She was acting fine, eating fine, but felt a little hot.
She went crazy on me in the middle of the night last night and wouldn't let me sleep, I checked on her babies and one was outside the nest, I placed it back in the nest and she calmed down. We went out today and when we came home there was a 6th kitten present, halfway under my couch, outside the nest, and it was dead. It appeared to have been dead for over 12 hours (we found it at 7pm today, she woke me up at 4 am previously, so I assume this one was born over 36 hours after the initial onset of labor), I'm positive this is why she woke me up and was so frantic. It was still born from the looks of it, and it looks like she tried her best to get it to become responsive but had no luck.
Again, I palpated her belly and STILL feel a lump in there, my problem is, now she isn't squishy anymore, she's got a tone of muscle tone back and I don't know what I'm really feeling. She's still warm but is acting completely normal.
She's not my cat and I'm not in the position to pay for a vet visit, and neither is the person I'm fostering them for. Is this common in cats? She's been through so much which is why I agreed to take her in, a vet trip might stress her out even more.
I guess my only questions are, does it sound like a vet trip is my only option at this point? And, does anyone else out there have experience with a situation like this?

[hgale]

I don't have any experience with this, as Mischa had an easy labour with her 3, but if you can still feel something, I would get her to the Vet ASAP to be checked over. If you ask, I expect your Vet would let you or the owner pay in instalments?

Please let us know how you get on.

[KittyWitty]

Personally I'd take to the vet and explain your situation - take along the owner as well if that may help since they are that persons cats after all!

[booktigger]

This is unusual, so you need to at least speak to a vet. You also need to have some financial back up if you are fostering, mum and kits are incredibly expensive, especially such a large litter

[lilynmitz]

Definitely take her in, and as soon as possible, or you risk losing mum, and possibly the orphaned newborns as well, which is too awful to contemplate. I really wouldn't delay this any longer, as one kitten has been lost already from mum trying her best unaided,