Help! I Found newborn kittens and I don't know what to do!!

..okay people, that's EXACTLY what I typed into the google crystal ball hoping for SOME kind of help and really I just kept finding sites that told me to buy cat formula and feed the babes.

uh, yeah. I needed all the steps PRIOR to making purchases. Like what to do when finding them, how to assess the situation and where to PUT them!

Let me back up:
I had just put my son down for a nap and the rest of family were out for some fun. I had about an hour of cleaning time and went to the oft neglected garage to grab some storage bins.

I walked in and heard a faint "meow" and figured a cat had gotten trapped in the garage somehow so I went to find it.

I didn't have to go far before I realized the faintness of the cry was due to the fact that it was coming from a microscopic little furry body limp and laying between a couple of weight plates on the floor.

The lighting is horrible in the garage and I had just been in glaring sunlight before getting in there so I thought I saw a black rat. Got closer and realized it had a little umbilical cord, and tightly closed eyes. I'm pretty sure this kitty was less than 12 hours old.

I know NOTHING about cats. Or dogs...or any kind of animal enough to respond appropriately in a situation like this. Though the "mom" in me said "Pick it up stupid. The concrete floor is freezing"

I quickly ran back to the house and grabbed a clean towel and ran back to get the kitten. I felt great. "You did the right thing!" Right when I was going to head back to the house ask Google what I'm supposed to be doing I heard another little faint cry. This time about two inches from where I was standing.

I looked down and saw another little kitty that must have mustered up all he could to alert me of his location. Yikes I almost STEPPED on him...her...him? Well, whatever I almost STEPPED on it! aak!

I put the two together in the towel to kind of warm each other up (I was thinking hypothermia remedies at this point) when I heard yet ANOTHER tiny meow.

I headed the opposite direction and found another under a shovel and pitch fork. Right after that there was another meow saying "hey, I'm right next to him under the rake.

After I got those other two it was pretty quiet and I put them all together in their little bed.

And then I heard a very tiny kitty cry from waaaaaayyyyy under the big, scary, incredibly heavy, ancient work table (remember it's darkish in here).

I freaked out, got on the nasty floor of my garage and crawled under it, and I s-t-r-e-t-c-h-ed with all my might behind two immovable bags of concrete to reach into the black hole hoping nothing scary would EAT MY HAND and, at last, felt the tiny little body.

Whew.

So, I figured I should not touch them with my bare hands so as to not leave my scent ('cuz that's what you're supposed to do, right? aak! I don't know!!) in case their mother came back.

Long story short, I called around and most places were saying to let the kittens hang out until mom comes back. She got scared off, she just left them all over mid-transport, yada, yada.

I finally got a hold of an animal rescue team the morning after and they basically said that because they were scattered around like that, the mom was just ready to drop them and run (unfortunately that just reminded me of humans doing the very same thing, but that's for another day...)

She also repeatedly said, "this is NOT good. This is NOT good at ALL. You NEED to bring them in A.S.A.P."

Grrrrrrreat. The rescue place is 40 minutes away and their little yelps for help are now more like winces and lethargic mumbles.

So we raced to the rescue center, half-way there we got a call from them saying to take them to another place which required back tracking 20 minutes and heading another direction for 25 more...The kittens were just barely hanging on.

We got to the right place and it was like I was in an episode of E.R. Everything at this rescue/pet shop stopped and attention was on me and the box of kitties that I brought. Even customers waiting in line helped. We all grabbed a kitten and warmed them with our hands while the staff ran around getting vaccines, heating pads and kitty formula ready...a real whirlwind.

After I helped them get set up and filled out paper work, I got into the van and cried. Dang emotions. I hate caring about cute helpless things.

I called to check on them the next morning before church and all but one had died. It was the black one that I found first.

I cried again.

In all of this, I learned how to handle this sort of thing. Perhaps someone else will benefit from my experience when they Google "Help! I found newborn kittens and I don't know what to do!"