Rested

I slept through the night for the first time in ages. I feel much better this morning. Although my back didn't like it much. I found that my back doesn't hurt as badly when I get up several times during the night. Just like my back doesn't like to sit in a chair for more than 10 minutes or stand on my feet for more than 5 minutes. I guess maybe I should set my alarm and continue to get up during the night.

I want to thank all of my friends who called, left comments here on my blog and sent me e-mails of encouragement through the last two weeks.

I have had people ask, why we just didn't put her down in the first place. Well, if we could have seen the future and had known that her kidneys were defective, we would have. But we have pulled high risk foals back from the brink before and so we couldn't let her go without exhausting every avenue of treatment. As long as there is hope, I find it hard to give up on them.

We had a foal years ago that was born to a mother with no milk, she was a fescue baby. This was back before the fescue problem had even been identified. We had just bought the mare and didn't know she was bred. The baby got no colostrum, it was also back before any of our local stores carried mare milk replacer, I don't even know if there was such a thing at that time anyway. I am really telling my age here. But anyway, we put her on Carnation calf milk replacer.

We didn't have the internet then and we didn't know anything about raising a foal on a bottle but we did know how to raise calves that way, so that is how we raised Bambi. She was just a little, half pony, half horse, sorrel filly.

She got septic, navel ill and her all of her joints swelled up. All of this happened during the coldest part of winter. I remember crawling to the barn on the ice to give her bottles. She got to the point that she couldn't stand or get to her feet.

She got scours, got dehydrated and even got pneumonia at one point. We just pumped her full of antibiotics and somehow pulled her through it all. Looking back on it now, I cannot believe that she survived but she did and went on to become a riding horse and the people that bought her from us even raised foals with her. She lived to be an old horse but did get arthritis when she got older.

Lost The Battle

Miracle survived to see her two week old birthday, but passed away 6 hours later. I knew she was in serious trouble yesterday morning, she had stopped urinating and wouldn't eat at all. I called the Vet and he was out of town most of the day, he finally called me in the late afternoon when he was on his way to Brown County. I told him to call me when he got back and if she was still alive, I wanted him to come down.

He got here at about 5:30 and tubed her to put some mineral oil down her and 18 oz. of milk. He was hoping that maybe she just had a bowel problem but we both knew it was her kidneys that had shut down. She wasn't running much of a fever and her gum color wasn't extremely bad. But she looked very bloated, even though she wasn't showing signs of colic. She was having trouble breathing when she laid down, so she was staying on her feet all of the time. He changed her antibiotic and gave her banamine.

We took her out and let her walk around the yard all evening, she did some exploring. My neighbor came by and couldn't believe that we were concerned about her, she was acting so good.

When we gave her the banamine shot at 2:00 AM, neither one of us thought that she would be alive this morning but she was and she was acting a little better. I fed her with the drench gun, then came in and went to sleep, the last time that she would suck a bottle was yesterday morning at around 8:30. When I woke up, I really was expecting her to be alive since she had survived the night and was acting better. But she was dead. I am very sad, we have been through so much together and she has been such a fighter.

More Bad News

Things were going reasonably well until today. Miracle's bladder infection has turned into something much more serious. Her kidneys seem to be shutting down. She has lost her appetite, I have not seen her urinate at all today and her belly looks bloated.

She isn't running a fever and is still getting up and walking around some but is very shaky on her feet now. I don't know what tonight will hold, I will still get up to attempt to feed her but I don't think that I will force feed her at this point. If she is still not eating at 3:00 AM, I may try to force some pedialyte down her.

I am sorry that I have not been blogging regularly but Miracle has been my focus for 13 days now. I keep hoping that I can post something more positive but every time I am encouraged, I get knocked off of my feet again.

I have been doing a lot of research on twins and have found out that first 72 hours is the most critical and that most problems show up within the first 10 days, but we are already past that deadline and something new and serious has come up, so I can't say I am very happy tonight.

Can't Catch A Break

Miracle was just doing wonderful and then she went been down on us again. She woke up this morning and took three bottles in a heartbeat. She took her last bottles at 9:00 AM then when I went out to check on her at 10:30 AM she was lying flat out on her side panting like a dog and chilling. She was too weak to lift her head.

I took her temperature it was nearly 104º. So I went to work on her, I had my DH prop her up onto her stomach instead of the flat out on her side position with a bale of straw and put a blanket her. She wouldn't take a bottle or hold up her head, so I used the drench gun on her. I gave her a mixture of strong black coffee, molasses and some whiskey that I got from my neighbor.

Then I did two things that I was not sure was the right decision but I was desperate, I had my husband give her a shot of LA-200, a long lasting antibiotic that I use on my goats, even though she is on some type of medicine for the bladder infection that the Vet gave us. I also gave her some children's liquid ibuprofen. I don't think you are suppose to give it to animals but that is what I had on hand.

I very slowly gave her pedialyte drenches several times, letting her rest about 30 minutes between each drench. Then I drenched her again with the equal parts of the warm coffee, molasses and whiskey mixture.

I let her rest and waited to see what would happen and I finally started seeing her breathing start to slow down and she started lifting her head. Before long she was on her feet. She was slowing improving throughout the day but then had a little relapse this evening but not nearly as severe.

She is taking her bottles again and my DH said that he will help me feed her tonight, so that I can get some rest.

Not Enough Time

Sorry that I didn't blog yesterday but I just didn't have the time. Spring brings a lot of extra work around here. I seem to be feeding the bottomless pit named Miracle constantly. If you have ever seen how a foal nurses it's mother, then you know that they eat continually. She is yelling at me all of the time for her next bottles. Plus the fact that her milk has to be warmed up and all of the bottles washed after each feeding, a task that I am getting tired of already.

She developed a bladder infection yesterday, so that meant a trip to the Vet to get medicine. She wouldn't eat for awhile and had to be force fed again, I hate that. She was fine this morning and her appetite had returned to full force.

Then there are my other responsibilities, everyone that has a website with me always want lots of updates in the Spring and I get tons of orders for rope halters in the Spring as well. The sad thing is that I sit around here all winter without much to do, then when foaling and kidding season starts and the weather warms up enough that I want to spend some time outside, I have all of this extra work to do. Not to mention the fact that the Grandkids like to come down and play outside during the warm weather. Morning still needs her dressing changed regularly and the goat has to be milked.

Lack of sleep is making me grumpy...

Back To Normal

My whole life has been obsessed with Miracle for the past week. But life has continued without my 100% attention.

My twin kids are growing like weeds and I am using the same naming theme for them that I am using for the foals, I named the black doeling "Onyx" and the dun colored buckling "Jasper".

I am trying to sell both of the kids in order to give their milk supply to Miracle. I was not planning to keep them anyway, because I don't need anymore goats and I was wanting to use the milk for us. But now I need to use the milk for Miracle.

I am also missing a hen, one of my Barred Rocks didn't show up to roost last night. We looked for her then and again today and can't find her. Either something has gotten her or she has gone broody and hidden a nest full of eggs somewhere that is very private and we can't locate it. I really didn't want any baby chicks this year unless it was from my Mille Fleur D'Uccles.

We had a visit from the neighbor's dogs today and I know without a doubt that they would be chicken killers, if given the chance. Angel stood her ground and barked at them but they didn't seem afraid of her because there are two of them. I went out with my BB gun and took a shot at one of them and she actually acted like I hit her, unbelievable because I can't hit anything with that gun. We talked with another neighbor tonight and he said that those same two dogs have been chasing his calves.

Great Day!

Miracle had a great day today, she has eaten well all day and has acted almost like a normal filly, maybe not like a week old foal, but at least like a 2 day old foal. She is about to turn one week old, the time has flown by and been a blur for me. But just maybe we are over the hump.

We kicked Dandee and Sapphire out of the barn today and then late this evening we took Miracle down to their pen for a visit. Dandee nickered when she saw her and even let her nurse. I was a little surprised that Miracle even remembered how to nurse. She ran and played while she was outside and even kicked at my husband.

I measured her intake today and she is taking a little over one and a half gallons per day at this point, I am sure she will increase with each day.

Sorry this blog was so late but we were completely swamped today and I am exhausted.

Good-Night...

Back Up We Go

It has been a long old day, pretty as it was, I didn't get to enjoy it much. I forced fluids into Miracle every 15 minutes, mostly pedialyte, then later this evening I started giving her milk again. I gave her Pepto-Bismol every hour until all signs of diarrhea were gone.

I just gave Miracle her 1:00 AM feeding and she took two bottles or about 18 oz. I see no sign of fresh diarrhea. If her appetite continues to improve she will eat us out of house and home. She has been so weak today that we haven't been able to put her in with her Mother.

And Down We Go

I want to get off of this roller coaster, I never did like them. Miracle has developed diarrhea and I just can't seem to get ahead of it. She was doing great this morning and really downing the milk, then the diarrhea started. I acted quickly with two tubes of CRS Gold Foal Paste and Pepto-Bismol, but she dehydrated very rapidly, became weak and won't eat. I am forcing fluids down her now every 15 minutes. I have been giving her nutri-drench and pedialyte, but am just not seeing any results other than the diarrhea has just about stopped.

Roller Coaster

This Roller Coaster ride sure has been exciting. We seem to have climbed back up to the top. Throughout the day Miracle continued to improve and the fainting episodes stopped.

She slept for many hours and then in the late afternoon she was on her feet and ready to eat. She stayed up for an hour, then laid down and slept for just a little while, then jumped back up to take a bottle with much urgency. She is just gulping those bottles down now.

The change in her is remarkable. We took her outside for a walk last night and she really enjoyed that but Dandee wasn't too happy about it. We are feeding her a bottle of my precious fresh Goat's Milk that I have been looking so forward to, every two hours and putting her in with her Mother every four hours. Cinder has much more milk than her babies need, so that has worked out great for us in this situation.

Miracle can see into our living room and she hollers for a bottle every time we pass by the window. We are hoping that she keeps her attachment to Dandee, that is why we are putting her in with her to nurse as often as possible. But she just isn't getting everything that she needs from Dandee even though Dandee is a great milk producer. Mares are not really designed to raise twins.

New Problem

Not a great development today, Miracle keeps collapsing, like she is passing out or just falling to sleep suddenly. She gets up occasionally but it sleeping most of the time. She will get up to eat then collapse before she gets done. We are also having a hard time waking her up at times.

The good news is that she is taking a bottle very well now, so that simplifies things quite a bit. We are just letting her sleep until we see her up then give her a bottle and help her lay down without falling.

Miracle

I thought that the names Sapphire and Topaz were cute for twins, but I just have to change Topaz' name to Miracle, I have no choice. She survived the whole twin experience and that is just amazing in itself but surviving what she went through in the last couple of days is nothing short of a miracle.

She is so much better it is just miraculous. She is walking and nursing on her own. She can stand up by herself but she is having problems laying down, we have to help her with that.

She was so bad Friday morning when my DH went to work that he had really given up hope. A couple hours later I heard some noise, went to check it out and she was sitting up. She had no muscle control just two hours earlier, her little head was just dangling when we tried and failed to feed her.

Now she was struggling to stand on her feet and I had a problem, she was flopping around all over the barn and was going to injure herself. So all I could do was just stay with her and protect her as much as I could.

Finally she wore herself out and went to sleep, I ran in the house and called my husband in a panic, he was just floored when I told him what she was doing. Next I called my Son to come and get hay out of the loft and build her a padded cell.

When I hung up with my Son and looked back out she was standing and looking at me, I was more than shocked. As soon as she stood up Dandee started talking to her and she started towards her mother, when she got to the gate I just opened it up and let her in. I stayed right beside her to steady her but she went right to that udder and made an immediate connection, I couldn't believe it!!

My Husband told me later on when I told him on the phone that she had walked to her mother and nursed, that he had come very close to just putting her down Thursday night.

She has continued to make progress all day. We can't leave her with her mother and sister, of course, so we are having to take her into their stall every two hours to nurse, then put her back in her padded cell. We are not completely out of the woods yet but things are starting to look much brighter.