This is why, when one of our animals is due to deliver babies, I trek to the barn at 3 in the morning, why I dash into the barn to check when I've been gone a few hours, why I peer into the stall or watch for the slightest change in the appearance of their....back....ends.... Yeah, tired of looking at animal rumps.
Cameo was due with her first litter of piglets on Friday. Nothing.
Saturday. Nothing. She munched some hay into smaller bits. She laid around and looked like a fat toad. She moaned and groaned but was not in labor.
Sunday....munching straw into tinier bits. Moving bedding around aimlessly. Eating and drinking and perking up her ears when she heard me come into the barn.
We left for Bible study and youth group.
Coming back around 9:00, things were different. (Yes, I dashed straight from the car into the barn to check!)
Cameo was snuggled in a nice nest, with sides built up to cradle her bulky frame. She did not perk up, but just swiveled her ear as if to say "Yeah, I know you're there.....I'm in LABOR here!"
About an hour later, she started straining. It wasn't pleasant to watch.
I was determined to only intervene if I needed to, but soon it was apparent that I needed to be in the stall. This was about 10:00 pm.
One little cloven hoof presented itself upside down (back foot), by itself. Tremendous effort on Cameo's part. Nothing. No progress.
More effort. Another little hoof presented itself and then slipped back in. I thought "Maybe....two piglets being born at once?!!!"
After a few more enormous attempts, it showed far enough out that a pulsing umbilical cord was wrapped around the second leg, holding a large piglet in place and thwarting any efforts for Cameo to deliver it.
That was easy enough to fix. On the next contraction, I hooked my finger carefully under that cord and eased it around the little hoof, so that the baby was no longer caught.
Some damage was done already. And Cameo was tearing (think episiotomy).... She seemed unable to deliver that baby.
I dialed the vet and started leaving a message. It was 10:30. As I finished with "What should I be doing to help her?", she forced that large piglet out. I hastily mumbled "I'll call if there's more trouble" and hung up. He lay there lifeless. I swiped his nose, swabbed inside his mouth, roughed him up between my hands and with the towel.
Nothing was going to save this one. He was a beautiful, perfectly formed male with just one white foot in front.
I laid him to the side, with his umbilical cord still securely fastened inside of his mother. I could cause trouble for Cameo if I pulled it too soon. Taffy watched intently, as the little black body just lay there, not moving.
No time to grieve on my part. Five more squirmy babies were delivered in rather quick succession. I swiped their noses with a dry towel and made sure they all got to the milk bar.
There are some white feet and a white nose in this litter. Cameo's dad had more white on him than usual, and these take after him.
It was now about 11:30. I stayed and watched until after midnight. Taffy was invited to come and see what was wrong with the little dead one. She reverently sniffed at him, nudged him, and looked back at me with big soulful brown eyes....
By midnight, all five survivors were nursing contentedly. Cameo had not yet delivered the afterbirth, but the dead baby's umbilical cord had finally eased out, so I felt that I could wrap him up and leave Cameo and the remaining babies alone for the night. Taffy watched with concern as I took the lifeless piglet away from the others and wrapped him in one of the old towels. :(
I don't know if the whole litter would have been lost. I do know that Cameo was in distress. I don't imagine that I'm any sort of hero, or that I need to be at every birth out there, but....this is why I check on my pregnant mamas as often as I do! The looped umbilical cord was preventing her from being able to expel that little body, that one umbilical cord was firmly attached behind the rest of the piglets in line for delivery, and that one piglet was very effectively blocking the way for any others. It could have been a disastrous birth, instead of five survivors.
This morning, Cameo was still lying in the nest with certain nastiness pooled behind her. She had not roused herself in 8 hours. Food worked to get her to snap out of her stupor, and some milk from Bessie. She got a good serving of her favorite, sprouted barley fodder.
Mama and piglets are working out a rhythm, nursing, squealing, motherly snorts as if she was a big black bear instead of a small black pig. It looks like two girls and 3 boys. One girl may not be registered because the white extends up past her front knee. I'll need to check the breed guidelines.
I have people waiting for these piglets, and for the next two litters. Deposits to reserve piglets will start coming in, now that the babies are here.
Five for a first litter, with only one loss due to complications is not bad. I'm exceedingly grateful that I was there during the delivery!!!
Laura
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