PasoVicki
05-16-2008, 09:28 PM
Did I mention it was a long night?
Let's see -- just as "history," Mila had started stage one labor on Wednesday evening about 6pm. So, obviously. I was watching her closely.
On Thursday evening, around 6:30 pm, I saw the first tiny bits of wax. Not very much, and it appeared and dropped away rather quickly. So, obviously, I kept watching.
The tiny bits of wax appeared periodically until around midnight, when REAL wax appeared. Big globs of drippy wax. (It was too dark for photos, though).
About 3am, she started dripping milk . . . occasionally even spraying milk. So I knew we should be getting close. She was pacing around and pawing, but not going up and down anymore. Periodically, she'd stop and munch hay for a while, so I knew she wasn't in too much distress.
Then, about 5:30am, she finally laid down. NOT in her nice clean stall that I had been mucking out every time she went poop -- but in the dirt near the edge of her pen, where I was sitting on my cold, hard little lawn chair. At least it was starting to get light though -- thank goodness for small favors.
Her water broke just a few minutes after she laid down. Then . . . nothing for several minutes. Tick . . .tock . . . at least five minutes went by, while I sat there and reminded myself not to panic. Not yet.
Finally, the little "bubble" appeared. And it was the right color. Big sigh of relief. But from there, things progressed much slower than I thought they should (and I was watching my watch, knowing I couldn't let more than 20 or 30 minutes go by). Tick . . . tock . . . tick . . . tock. One tiny little foot appeared, then (after what seemed like a long time) a second tiny foot. Tick . . . tock . . . tick . . . tock . . . . I'd called my husband with my cell phone, and he came down. "Shouldn't we open the bag and uncover the nose?" he said. "There isn't a nose," I said.
But, finally, a nose appeared. Just the very end of the nose. But it wasn't progressing very far. Tick . . . tock . . . .
Okay, I say, I'm going to go in and put a little gentle traction on those two legs when she has her next contraction -- because that baby doesn't seem to be fitting through the opening very well. So I did. The next contraction, I used a little gentle traction. The nose budged forward a little bit. We rested, and then did it again, and the head finally came out. Then I decideded to open up the bag and clear it away from the foal's nostrils, because foal wasn't moving at all. Then I kept using gentle traction with each contraction until everything but the rear legs was out. Then I stepped back and waited for Mila and baby to decide when to move any further -- which seemed, again, to be a rather long time, but baby was breathing, and Mila was looking him over, so I didn't think there was any rush.
Then he started trying to get to his feet -- but Mila had picked a rather bad spot for traction. All of our property is on a slope -- and it just wasn't the best spot among the not very good choices. But he finally got to his feet, and we helped him around so he didn't fall and hurt himself.
He did start trying to nurse right away, but he just couldn't manage it. Mila isn't very tall, and he couldn't get his nose under and latch on. But I was planning to call the vet anyway, because I wanted to make sure the birth hadn't hurt Mila, so I called around 7am, and the vet did come out a little after 8am. New vet at the clinic -- nice girl, but . . . I think I'll save that story for later. Let's just say that, two years ago, when one of the senior vets at the clinic came out to help Capri (who, by unfortunate coincidence, had the same problem nursing), he had Danesa milked and a good tube feeding into Capri within a very short time. The (I know I shouldn't say "little") girl today took at least 90 minutes to accomplish a very small feeding. However, she did say the foal's vitals are good, Mila looks fine, and all of the placenta was passed. Vet decided to come back this afternoon and check on the foal again, and we're trying to work on nursing, but he's still having trouble. Hopefully, he'll get the hang of it. He's trying, and she's cooperating, but they're having trouble coordinating.
Here are a few photos, if the forum isn't too darn slow for me to upload them.
Everybody cross your fingers for the little guy -- we're not out of the woods yet. And it's a nasty, hot, windy day.
http://americanpasofinos.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1297&stc=1&d=1210969423
http://americanpasofinos.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1300&stc=1&d=1210969423
http://americanpasofinos.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1298&stc=1&d=1210969423
http://americanpasofinos.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1301&stc=1&d=1210969423
http://americanpasofinos.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1299&stc=1&d=1210969423
Let's see -- just as "history," Mila had started stage one labor on Wednesday evening about 6pm. So, obviously. I was watching her closely.
On Thursday evening, around 6:30 pm, I saw the first tiny bits of wax. Not very much, and it appeared and dropped away rather quickly. So, obviously, I kept watching.
The tiny bits of wax appeared periodically until around midnight, when REAL wax appeared. Big globs of drippy wax. (It was too dark for photos, though).
About 3am, she started dripping milk . . . occasionally even spraying milk. So I knew we should be getting close. She was pacing around and pawing, but not going up and down anymore. Periodically, she'd stop and munch hay for a while, so I knew she wasn't in too much distress.
Then, about 5:30am, she finally laid down. NOT in her nice clean stall that I had been mucking out every time she went poop -- but in the dirt near the edge of her pen, where I was sitting on my cold, hard little lawn chair. At least it was starting to get light though -- thank goodness for small favors.
Her water broke just a few minutes after she laid down. Then . . . nothing for several minutes. Tick . . .tock . . . at least five minutes went by, while I sat there and reminded myself not to panic. Not yet.
Finally, the little "bubble" appeared. And it was the right color. Big sigh of relief. But from there, things progressed much slower than I thought they should (and I was watching my watch, knowing I couldn't let more than 20 or 30 minutes go by). Tick . . . tock . . . tick . . . tock. One tiny little foot appeared, then (after what seemed like a long time) a second tiny foot. Tick . . . tock . . . tick . . . tock . . . . I'd called my husband with my cell phone, and he came down. "Shouldn't we open the bag and uncover the nose?" he said. "There isn't a nose," I said.
But, finally, a nose appeared. Just the very end of the nose. But it wasn't progressing very far. Tick . . . tock . . . .
Okay, I say, I'm going to go in and put a little gentle traction on those two legs when she has her next contraction -- because that baby doesn't seem to be fitting through the opening very well. So I did. The next contraction, I used a little gentle traction. The nose budged forward a little bit. We rested, and then did it again, and the head finally came out. Then I decideded to open up the bag and clear it away from the foal's nostrils, because foal wasn't moving at all. Then I kept using gentle traction with each contraction until everything but the rear legs was out. Then I stepped back and waited for Mila and baby to decide when to move any further -- which seemed, again, to be a rather long time, but baby was breathing, and Mila was looking him over, so I didn't think there was any rush.
Then he started trying to get to his feet -- but Mila had picked a rather bad spot for traction. All of our property is on a slope -- and it just wasn't the best spot among the not very good choices. But he finally got to his feet, and we helped him around so he didn't fall and hurt himself.
He did start trying to nurse right away, but he just couldn't manage it. Mila isn't very tall, and he couldn't get his nose under and latch on. But I was planning to call the vet anyway, because I wanted to make sure the birth hadn't hurt Mila, so I called around 7am, and the vet did come out a little after 8am. New vet at the clinic -- nice girl, but . . . I think I'll save that story for later. Let's just say that, two years ago, when one of the senior vets at the clinic came out to help Capri (who, by unfortunate coincidence, had the same problem nursing), he had Danesa milked and a good tube feeding into Capri within a very short time. The (I know I shouldn't say "little") girl today took at least 90 minutes to accomplish a very small feeding. However, she did say the foal's vitals are good, Mila looks fine, and all of the placenta was passed. Vet decided to come back this afternoon and check on the foal again, and we're trying to work on nursing, but he's still having trouble. Hopefully, he'll get the hang of it. He's trying, and she's cooperating, but they're having trouble coordinating.
Here are a few photos, if the forum isn't too darn slow for me to upload them.
Everybody cross your fingers for the little guy -- we're not out of the woods yet. And it's a nasty, hot, windy day.
http://americanpasofinos.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1297&stc=1&d=1210969423
http://americanpasofinos.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1300&stc=1&d=1210969423
http://americanpasofinos.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1298&stc=1&d=1210969423
http://americanpasofinos.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1301&stc=1&d=1210969423
http://americanpasofinos.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1299&stc=1&d=1210969423