Doing a little better
Aug. 21st, 2006 06:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lantairvleaNow that I'm past the shock and emotional breakdown, though still not immune from tears it seems, I'm going to write out a bit more about yesterday.
Sunday was the first day for our new time for church, 9.40 instead of 8.00. We were heading out the door and Chewy was laying down in her stall. Unusual. I went out to swap the horses (we keep Kash and Dakota in at night and let Chewy roam and swap them during the day) and saw it.
Dread, utter dread. I couldn't believe it. I'd feared it. It was happening.
I called Mom through sobs, Chris tried to call Marty, but I think she'd already left for church. I called the vet and asked advise, he was heading to Wilcox at the time and wouldn't be back until late afternoon. He said it should go almost like a normal labor and probably be easier for her because the foal is much smaller than it would be at full term.
She passed it all at once, foal, placenta, and all. Chewy got up and nudged at it, licking a little before I climbed over the fence and pushed her a little so she didn't eat the afterbirth. Chris got a shovel and bucket, I told him to get something without a hole in it, we needed to have the vet look at it later to make sure it was all there, no burial yet. I stood there with her as he went to retrieve it. I let her nuzzle and lick it a little, but mostly tried to keep her head up.
The heart-wrenching part was hearing her call for it. She nickered and hollered. Whinnying and trotting all around the pen, looking for it. Wondering why it wasn't calling back. She's had at least four other foals. She knows how it's supposed to go. This is not the way it was supposed to happen.
She's settled a bit now. I haven't heard her call for it since yesterday evening.
The vet made it out shortly before 6.00. He checked out the afterbirth and the fetus. He caught the cause right away. A twisted ambilical chord. I think he counted twenty-eight rotations. It died and that's why Chewy aborted. A freak thing, nothing anyone could have done to prevent it. Dr. Chattam said that an over-active foal can sometimes twist like that. Chris and I joked that the foal was just too excited about being alive. It couldn't walk, so it had to run.
There was a live foal guarantee when we bought her, but I don't think we'll breed her back. She'll be 16 next year and she would be 17 for the next foal. Although she's never had a problem before, and this abortion was a rare fluke, no fault of mare or caretakers, I don't know if we'll breed her back.
We didn't buy her for the foal. We bought her as a lesson horse, and she's done fantastic at that. So we'll see. Part of me just hates to have her last one end in such a way.
We're giving her some Oxytosin (sp?) to help her uterus shrink back down to normal. Two today (first one this morning around 6.00), and two tomorrow, and she's fine to start work again on Wednesday.
On my plate for today: Lesson (we'll have her on Dakota), working one of Kim's horses, and then to school. I have three classes today.
I am grateful that I was able to be there for Chewy. However, I would have much preferred to have seen the delivery in January than yesterday. But that's okay. Life moves on and it includes the creation of life as well as the death thereof and everything inbetween. Without the sorrows we can't know what joy is.
I just have to remember to breath.
Sunday was the first day for our new time for church, 9.40 instead of 8.00. We were heading out the door and Chewy was laying down in her stall. Unusual. I went out to swap the horses (we keep Kash and Dakota in at night and let Chewy roam and swap them during the day) and saw it.
Dread, utter dread. I couldn't believe it. I'd feared it. It was happening.
I called Mom through sobs, Chris tried to call Marty, but I think she'd already left for church. I called the vet and asked advise, he was heading to Wilcox at the time and wouldn't be back until late afternoon. He said it should go almost like a normal labor and probably be easier for her because the foal is much smaller than it would be at full term.
She passed it all at once, foal, placenta, and all. Chewy got up and nudged at it, licking a little before I climbed over the fence and pushed her a little so she didn't eat the afterbirth. Chris got a shovel and bucket, I told him to get something without a hole in it, we needed to have the vet look at it later to make sure it was all there, no burial yet. I stood there with her as he went to retrieve it. I let her nuzzle and lick it a little, but mostly tried to keep her head up.
The heart-wrenching part was hearing her call for it. She nickered and hollered. Whinnying and trotting all around the pen, looking for it. Wondering why it wasn't calling back. She's had at least four other foals. She knows how it's supposed to go. This is not the way it was supposed to happen.
She's settled a bit now. I haven't heard her call for it since yesterday evening.
The vet made it out shortly before 6.00. He checked out the afterbirth and the fetus. He caught the cause right away. A twisted ambilical chord. I think he counted twenty-eight rotations. It died and that's why Chewy aborted. A freak thing, nothing anyone could have done to prevent it. Dr. Chattam said that an over-active foal can sometimes twist like that. Chris and I joked that the foal was just too excited about being alive. It couldn't walk, so it had to run.
There was a live foal guarantee when we bought her, but I don't think we'll breed her back. She'll be 16 next year and she would be 17 for the next foal. Although she's never had a problem before, and this abortion was a rare fluke, no fault of mare or caretakers, I don't know if we'll breed her back.
We didn't buy her for the foal. We bought her as a lesson horse, and she's done fantastic at that. So we'll see. Part of me just hates to have her last one end in such a way.
We're giving her some Oxytosin (sp?) to help her uterus shrink back down to normal. Two today (first one this morning around 6.00), and two tomorrow, and she's fine to start work again on Wednesday.
On my plate for today: Lesson (we'll have her on Dakota), working one of Kim's horses, and then to school. I have three classes today.
I am grateful that I was able to be there for Chewy. However, I would have much preferred to have seen the delivery in January than yesterday. But that's okay. Life moves on and it includes the creation of life as well as the death thereof and everything inbetween. Without the sorrows we can't know what joy is.
I just have to remember to breath.
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-21 02:13 pm (UTC)I nearly had the fate of that foal, myself. The cord was wrapped around my neck twice, and my heart stopped beating during labor. Thankfully the doctors were able to get me out in time to save me, but had it been sometime during the pregnancy, I'd most likely have been stillborn.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-21 02:33 pm (UTC)I would hate for her last pregnancy to end on this note as well...
Again, I am so sorry. If there is anything I can do for you right now, please do not hesitate to tell me.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-21 03:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-21 04:20 pm (UTC)