Is this the beginnings of labor or do we have a headache

dragonchick · #21 09/20/08, 12:40 PM

10% is stronger than 7% yes, but Povidone Iodine a different formulation than the regular iodine I think.
DC

Alice In TX/MO · #22 09/20/08, 02:00 PM

Use what you have. Some folks on here don't dip navels.

Have you gone in with a very clean and lubed hand to see if babies are stuck?

dragonchick · #23 09/20/08, 02:28 PM

I have not attempted going in yet but she doesn't seem to be pushing real hard and the contractions are still mild. I can see a hoof or something poking from her side every now and then so what ever is in there is alive still.
DC

Minelson · #24 09/20/08, 02:30 PM

Gretta was my first delivery with ANY animal. I have no experience in the human department either! If I can do it you can do it

dragonchick · #25 09/20/08, 02:32 PM

Thanks for the vote of confidence.
I have experience in the human department and have delivered dogs and cats , hopefully a goat won't be that much different.
DC

RiverPines · #26 09/20/08, 08:03 PM

If you need to help pull a kid, dont pull out, pull down toward the does heels.
If she starts pushing and nothing is happening in 30 minutes, I'd call a vet. We waited an hour after our doe started pushing with the too big of kid and that was to long for a totally stuck kid. It was so big it never even made it out of the ball shape they lay in. There wasnt enough room for the kid to go into the diving position. Thats why we chose to kill the mom instead of loose both. It was impossible to get that kid out and that hour was to much for the doe to handle, she when straight down hill the last 10 minutes of that hour. She just quit.
These too early pg's are the most risky of all.

On does that are not so young and ready to breed we wait an hour after pushing before we check out the doe. We havent a lost a kid ever! Just that one doe.

dragonchick · #27 09/20/08, 08:22 PM

Well shes not doing anything, maybe she did just have a headache. I did a short finger probe with a gloved hand and didn't feel anything, she won't let me push up on her belly while probing. Her cervix or what I think is her cervix was open though. Shes not acting uncomfortable or in pain. Her temp is 102.3, peeing and pooping more than normal but its normal looking. Shes not pawing anymore, not pacing, but rather just walking around. Her hips are still very sunken and her tail looks like its about to fall off. I can touch my fingers around the tail where it attaches. Still no discharge and no udder. Do ya think shes just messing with me? Its now been 24 hours since all this started. I really would like to sleep tonight but I don't have a baby monitor to put out there with her. I am going back out to check on her again. Throughout this entire ordeal she has not been vocal, shes been very quiet, and hardly making a sound, which in itself is very weird. Our very last date of delivery is the middle of December if she was bred right before I got her. Shes got me doubting myself on what I am seeing and feeling. Her contractions never did get really hard like I would think they should, sorta like Braxton Hicks in humans. Do goats have these?
DC

Narshalla · #28 09/20/08, 08:29 PM

If she is 6 months old, and goat are pregnant for 5 months, then she would have to have gotten pregnant at i month old, right? Is that even possible? If she got pregnant at 4 months old, for instance, then she's 2 months along, and this is a miscarriage, not a birth.

Of course, if the woman who gave her to you was wrong, then anything is possible, but the detail you have provided don't seem to add up to her giving birth any time soon.

Freeholder · #29 09/20/08, 08:58 PM

Yes, goats can get pregnant at one month old. Someone on here (I can never remember who) had a doe kid at six months old, a full-term pregnancy.

With the cervix dilated and the ligaments at the base of the tail gone, it sounds like she's very close, within a few days, at least. And since she's so young, I'd stay with her, even if you have to take a couple of old blankets out there and sleep in her pen. If you keep a light on, you won't have to get up to check on her, just wake up once in a while enough to open one eye and take a look.

What are you going to do if she goes into hard labor at night, when the vet won't be available, and she has trouble? What size buck was she bred to? And what size is she? (You have probably mentioned this already but I missed it.)

I hope this goes well.

Kathleen

dragonchick · #30 09/20/08, 09:10 PM

And then again she may not be pregnant at all and I am imagining things. The middle of July is the last time she was with a buck so December is the last possible date. Boers can be bred at 1 month and shes part Boer. They also cycle every month so she could have been bred anytime between 1 and 4 months as she was with a buck during this time. This is just the first time anything like this has happened and I am watching closely until the first of the year. I have never seen nor attended a goat birth so I didn't know what to expect. Looking at pictures, reading, and seeing are totally different things. The frustrations are mounting.

Update:
Shes still stretching, still yawning constantly, and still acting weird. The ungrateful witch untied my shoe laces while I was watching her belly movements. There is still something doing boxer jabs from the inside, mostly on the right side. This is not like the rumen rolls on the left I see all the time. I think I am going to bed for a while, I have been up for almost 37 hours and won't be good for anything if I don't.
DC

dragonchick · #31 09/20/08, 09:29 PM

I have no idea what the buck was but when I saw him he was about the same size she was, maybe a little bigger, I also don't know how old he was, he was given to someone else. I was told Pickles was part Boer and the Saanen was determined from looking at pictures and asking questions but she could be part anything under the sun. She weighs about 50lbs by the weight tape, she stands right at 24" to her back, and is almost 35" long from nose to tail. As far as problems, I have phone numbers I can call IF I have to. We have taken precautions to keep the kid(s) small and hopefully that will work. Other than that I am hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. C-Section is a last ditch, last resort but I would rather have one of them than neither.

RiverPines · #32 09/20/08, 10:05 PM

Goats are like people, they can be in early labor for days.

Once the ligs are 100% gone, then your in the last 24 hours or less.
I wait for the total loss of ligs before I loose sleep.

Minelson · #33 09/20/08, 11:04 PM

I wish I was there to help you so you could get some sleep

Do you have a friend that lives near by that could keep an eye on her while you rest? Don't be afraid to ask for help...I would want to be asked by friend or neighbor.

Cara · #34 09/21/08, 12:20 AM

I am so sorry it's going like this for you! Just keep on doing what you're doing and keep an eye on her and your chin up. Your next time around will be much easier.

Really.

jill.costello · #35 09/21/08, 03:56 AM

I was just thinking she sounds like a really sensible doeling; she isn't allowing her "body changes" to get her all worked up, and that's good!

When mine started early labor/ nesting, she was afraid; wouldn't let me out of her sight and bawled and stared at her own belly! It would've been funny if I wasn't so worried about her!

I know more about foaling horses than I do about kidding goats, but I think that the kid(s) are moving into position, stimulating that cervical dilation, the body is responding by relaxing, etc,etc....sounds good to me! If all is well, then when the first kid is ready (front hooves pointing out), one good contraction should break momma's water.....then the fun begins!

In my case, it was good that I was there with my nervous FF, because her water just wasn't breaking....thank goodness DH grew up on a dairy farm and knew when it was time to "lend a hand" (about an hour into vigorous contractions), coached me through an internal exam, *finding the breech buckling with his sister's front hoof next to his tail

* Once I had that little hoof pushed back, everything moved FAST!

Shazza · #36 09/21/08, 05:52 AM

Anything happened yet????

southerngurl · #37 09/21/08, 08:52 AM

She sounds pretty close to me as well. My toggenburg did the head to the wall thing, lots of stretching her back way out for hours. She had one big baby (and Toggy is a small doe, like 100 maybe 110 lbs), so she was trying to position this big baby. So she may have a lot of this, being so young. You sure want to be there for delivery and don't let her do much pushing without results! She can cram those babies in all wrong, and wear herself out.

reicheru · #38 09/21/08, 08:55 AM

I probably shouldn't tell you this... but Gypsy did the same sort of thing off and on for like a month before she kidded. The only discharge she ever had was like 3 weeks or so before finally popping. No strutting until after kidding. No soft talking. The only reason why I got any sleep at all was because I put a baby monitor in there. Once I learned what was normal for her and got used to the ticking of the fence charger, I could really get some good sleep. Sure enough, I woke up from a nap and she was in labor. LOL

dragonchick · #39 09/21/08, 08:56 AM

Nothing yet. Shes calm, cool, and collected this morning. Still doing a lot of stretching but more laying down today. If shes going to kid I hope she does it very soon. I have to work 7 to 7 tonight and won't have another day/night off until Wednesday. Hopefully she will work with my schedule, yeah right. I have told DH how to access this site and this post if something happens and if he needs any help while I am gone, so if he asks please lend a hand. My mentor works the same schedule as I do so he won't be available at this time. I will ask if he knows someone that may be able to assist.
DC

dragonchick · #40 09/21/08, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reicheru

I probably shouldn't tell you this... but Gypsy did the same sort of thing off and on for like a month before she kidded. The only discharge she ever had was like 3 weeks or so before finally popping. No strutting until after kidding. No soft talking. The only reason why I got any sleep at all was because I put a baby monitor in there. Once I learned what was normal for her and got used to the ticking of the fence charger, I could really get some good sleep. Sure enough, I woke up from a nap and she was in labor. LOL

I would rather have another month or even 2 before she delivers. This would give her a little more time to grow.
DC