Giselle

After working with Giselle for many hours and trying everything that we could think of, she continued to go downhill rapidly. I found a scalpel and gathered my towels, so that we would be ready when she breathed her last breath to open her up and try to save her babies.

She died in my arms and my DH went to work as quickly as possible. He had no problem locating the first kid and handing it to me. I immediately gave it a gentle swing to try to clear it's lungs and passageways, and started toweling it off but put it down when I got no response and took the next one, the same thing happened. He handed me the third one and quickly searched for more before turning to help me.

We worked and worked, slinging, thumping, rubbing, even giving some mouth to mouth but none of them ever moved or responded in any way. A black buck, a black and white spotted buck and a mahogany spotted doe.

This turned out to be a bad Easter for me, my new Easter dress went unworn and I am wondering if there was something more that I could have done for Giselle or for the babies. My Dear Husband says that this is just life on the farm. You are always going to lose a few battles, I suppose. But it still really hurts...

Happy Easter!

Easter is as early this year as you will ever see it again in your lifetime. Everything seems early this year, we were looking forward to Spring but it came up in such a whirlwind that the temperatures haven't had time to catch up yet.

Giselle is still not doing well, she is off her feed and not getting up at all, she did go outside and stand for just a few minutes today but then went back inside to lie down and she hasn't moved since. She hasn't eaten any hay or grain, she wouldn't even eat treats. I took some warm molasses water to her at about 11:30 tonight and she drank quite a bit, but that is all she has had.

Her tail end had some goo hanging from it this morning which is a good sign that labor is close but I have been checking on her every 30 minutes all through the night and she isn't doing anything. She is just lying very still and has a glazed look in her eyes.

It is now 3:03 in the morning and after checking on her the last time I have decided that she has all of the symptoms of Pregnancy Toxemia and I have mixed up a drench for her again, karo syrup, molasses, nutri-drench, B-complex vitamins and crunched-up tums. I am giving her the drench syringe full (50 ml) every two hours, then following that up with 50 ml of yogurt. She isn't happy about it, she just wants to be left alone. No sleep for me tonight...