started the restless behavior and officially went into labor after lunch. Here is the baby’s head and front feet, making their way out….Usually the head is above the feet..the position would be like that of a diver with their arms outstretched and their head tucked in between. The problem was that the placenta ruptured while inside of mom. Since the crias are in the womb for 11 months all of the urine and waste products are inside of that sack. Usually it doesn’t burst open until the cria has hit the ground or at least starting towards the ground. We could see that the baby was moving around (usually that isn’t evident when they are still inside the sack) but after an hour of mom pushing, she still wasn’t all the way out. What Sister Mo thinks might have happened is that the baby was getting hung up on the placenta that was still inside. Anne Therese was getting tired and would lay down. Finally, with gloves and lubricant on, Sister PB reached inside of mom and got a hold of the baby and pulled in a downward motion. The way the birth canal is in alpacas is angled downward and it has a little arch to it. Whatever Sister PB did worked cause out she came.
A 12# little girl and I’m sure mom was glad that was over. Tonight I had feeding duty for Peanut and took this picture of the new one while I was there.
It doesn’t even look like a newborn, does it? She’ll all dressed in her little coat to keep her warm tonight (calling for overnight temps of 37). She was laying outside with mom when I left. Peanut took 7 ounces of milk tonight, during her 7:00 feeding and then fell asleep on my lap.
The doctor drew blood from her the other day to see how her IGG (something like immunoglobbin count) is. She scored 300 and it’s supposed to be near 1200, I think. This is how strong her immune system is and her ability to fight off sickness. The vet is coming tomorrow to give her a plasma transfusion. We have an all day workshop tomorrow (Alpaca 101), from 10 - 4 so we’ll get to see the vet give her the transfusion. She really seems to be doing great. She was out in the pasture today, galloping along…dragging her bad leg along.
Today was the last day for the Creighton kids. We had eight students here for the week from Creighton University. They have been on fall break and drove from Omaha, NE to spend time with us and learn about farming and gardening. Here is a picture of them unloading hay in the barn. Good bunch of kids. They are driving home tomorrow….back to Omaha and classes come Monday morning. Some of them are business management, some were pre-med and some are studying to be lawyers. They said that Creighton is known for the pre-med, law and pharmacist programs that they offer. These are tomorrow’s leaders ! They also got to watch the birth of the cria and they have a very special memory to take home with them.
Well off to bed with me….tomorrow I learn all there is to know about alpacas. Yeah….right. I feel like I’ve had a crash course in some of the things that can go wrong with them in the last couple of weeks but having a ball learning all of it.
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