A Long Exhausting Day

As soon as I got up yesterday, I could tell Margaret was in labor. She started pushing at about 8:15, and her contractions were only about 10 seconds apart. She was getting exhausted and stopped pushing. The babies head was out, enveloped in the sack, and I decided to break the water and see if the feet were out. They were, but one leg was holding back a little. I pulled on it and got the baby in position, but Margaret was still not pushing. Seemed like we needed to get this cria on the ground, so I delivered her. Yes, another little girl.

From there it went downhill. Poor little thing is down in the pasterns and unable to stand to nurse. We milked Margaret a couple of times, feeding the colostrum rich milk to the baby. But by mid afternoon, she was like a rag doll, weak as can be.

We finally resorted to bottle feeding her whole milk. Still no improvement, and she was "honking" with every breath. Never heard anything like it. I finally called the vet, figuring we would take her in and have her put down. My son Michael drove while DH held the baby. I was amazed when he called about 40 minutes later and said he was bringing her home.

She had apparently suffered hypoxia during birth (a period without oxygen). The honking was coming from her throat, not her lungs. The vet thought it might be from swelling or stress, so he gave her a couple of shots to help with that.


I got up every two hours last night to feed her bottles, and at 6AM, she refused to take one. She is steadier on her feet and is nursing. Hallelujiah.

We still don't know if she will survive, but the vet felt it was worth a try and that we were doing everything right.

I'm exhausted.

I have a tour coming at 11am, and then it's to bed.