In my previous blog I wrote about Ronnie and the vet visiting yesterday.
This morning at first light I was up and out and homing in on Ronnie. Things had moved on, she was straining. She was very obviously trying to give birth. I reported back to Sue who carried out a quick internal examination and we realised that something was not right.
Instead of the hoped for nose and front feet Sue could feel something else which was either an ear or a tail. The vet was called it was 6.45am.
40 minutes later and the vet arrived. A breach presentation was diagnosed. The last thing we wanted to hear. There then followed a great deal of internal fiddling, pulling and head scratching. The vet told me that it was very likely that the cria was dead, she had not felt it move for sometime. She had managed to get one back leg out but the other was still tucked up under the body. She had a rope round it but the cria wasn't budging. We then went on to discuss the various options whilst we waited for back up to arrive.
The options, if the cria couldn't be pulled out, were not good. A caesarean, which could result in a dead Ronnie or cutting up the cria in order to get it out, hopefully resulting in a live Ronnie.
I wasn't overly keen on either option, but once the second vet arrived decisions were going to have to be made.
At this point in the day I was beginning to wish I was still alseep in the middle of a very bad dream. We were looking at another dead cria and there was a chance we could lose Ronnie as well.
The second vet, David, arrived. He had delivered the two still borns earlier in the summer. He got to work.
As he was lubing up we both saw the foot that was sticking out of Ronnies rear end twitch.
We looked at each other and I asked him if he had seen that foot move. He had but said it might have been due to a contraction.
This morning at first light I was up and out and homing in on Ronnie. Things had moved on, she was straining. She was very obviously trying to give birth. I reported back to Sue who carried out a quick internal examination and we realised that something was not right.
Instead of the hoped for nose and front feet Sue could feel something else which was either an ear or a tail. The vet was called it was 6.45am.
40 minutes later and the vet arrived. A breach presentation was diagnosed. The last thing we wanted to hear. There then followed a great deal of internal fiddling, pulling and head scratching. The vet told me that it was very likely that the cria was dead, she had not felt it move for sometime. She had managed to get one back leg out but the other was still tucked up under the body. She had a rope round it but the cria wasn't budging. We then went on to discuss the various options whilst we waited for back up to arrive.
The options, if the cria couldn't be pulled out, were not good. A caesarean, which could result in a dead Ronnie or cutting up the cria in order to get it out, hopefully resulting in a live Ronnie.
I wasn't overly keen on either option, but once the second vet arrived decisions were going to have to be made.
At this point in the day I was beginning to wish I was still alseep in the middle of a very bad dream. We were looking at another dead cria and there was a chance we could lose Ronnie as well.
The second vet, David, arrived. He had delivered the two still borns earlier in the summer. He got to work.
As he was lubing up we both saw the foot that was sticking out of Ronnies rear end twitch.
We looked at each other and I asked him if he had seen that foot move. He had but said it might have been due to a contraction.
It moved again. 'It's still alive' I said.
My somewhat low mood had surged upwards.
David was now going to work and bugger me if two minutes later he didn't pull out a lovely healthy male cria!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a fantastic, wonderful, bloody marvellous result!!!!
There were a few tears welling up in that field shelter I can tell you. I just couldn't believe it. From a scenario where we had a dead cria and were in deep pooh with the mother we went to the best possible result, all in about two minutes flat. My emotions still haven't quite caught up with me.
Ronnie was simply marvellous and just lay there without making much of a fuss about any of it. She couldn't have been any better.
Ronnie isn't owned by us so the name of her cria will ultimately be decided by his owner but we have affectionately named him Reggie.
Do you know what happened then. The sun came out. What a fantastic day!! Bring it on!!
8 comments:
Thank goodness! Phew - I'm very relieved.
Fantastic outcome! I'm glad to hear some good news from such a difficult beginning. Good call, you and Sue!
Thanks guys. We are very happy here, he's a cracking little fellow and very strong. It was not something we would like to go through again!
Well thank bleedin' **** for that!! What a relief especially after the months of build up to this particular cria's birth! And he's coloured as well - bonus! We'll let daddy know of his new son.
Hi Mark! Glad to see everything worked out, keep it up!
Ben from the Czech Republic!
Congratulations! My blood pressure went up just reading about it! He looks gorgeous.
Nice one Mark, like us you have a damned good gang of vets. We don't know how lucky we are. Fair play to you both, that's a great result mate.
Rob
What a lovely wee thing he looks. Well done to you all. Lucky you have the invaluable midwifery services of Sue on hand too! Groove will be happy that he has another cria on the ground - there is quite a gang now. Hope wee "Reggie" has a stress free life from now on. Strange now nature can resolve a seemingly hopeless situation!!
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