Thanks to everyone that replied. We lost the ewe and the baby on New Years Eve/early New Years day. Apparently, the baby had started into the birth canal head first, both front feet behind. The baby was huge - at least 10 pounds! This must have been why she wouldn't lay down, it must have hurt to lay down. When she did finally lay down and act like she was going in labor, she was not dilated enough for us to do anything to help her. We could only get 2 fingers in and couldn't feel the baby - since she was coming 3 days early we thought maybe it just wasn't really time yet - we were wrong - but she never dialated until the very end when we finally could get a hand (barely) in, we found the baby was dead, he was head first. we pushed him back, got legs out and pulled out, but she was torn up inside from trying to get it out without being dialated. We called the vet but couldn't get one out on New Years Eve - next morning it was too late to save her and she was in a lot of pain and still trying to push and was about to prolapse her uterus. Every time she pushed she moaned and screamed - she was in a lot of pain, so we put her down. She was my favorite ewe, just as sweet as she could be, I will really miss her, I'm still looking for her to be there and come up to beg a treat from me . . . .
What do I do in the future if one is trying to have a baby but they aren't dialated enough?? Is there some kind of medicine I should try to have on hand that will make them dialate? We don't have a regular vet, which was another problem in trying to get one out here . .does everyone have a regular vet? What do you use them for . . .seems the only time we really need one is in an emergency and they don't want to come if you aren't a 'client' , but I only need one in an emergency . .usually on a holiday at midnight . . . Anyway, thanks everyone for the info and the link to Parker's book. Thank you!! Onalee =============================================== This message is from the Blackbelly Sheep mailing list (http://www.awrittenword.com/listserv/index.html). To respond to this message, send e-mail to [email protected] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly To search the archives, go to http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
