Long Night

We chose the name Twilight for Maddie's cria. I know many people will think this is after the book series, it's not. None of us have read those books. We decided on the theme of night/darkness/mystery for Maddie's offspring. We had names like: Phantom, Starlight, and such as ideas. The kids and J saw the movie "How to Train a Dragon" and decided if Maddie had a boy, we would name it Night Fiery. A few weeks back, Emma thought of the name Twilight. We all loved it and added it to the list. We were sort of thinking Night Fiery or Twilight would be the name, depending on the sex of the cria, but no decisions were final until the cria was born. So much can change when you see that cria's face. Upon seeing this cria, all of us felt that Twilight is perfect for her.

We thought all was well with Twilight. The birth seemed uneventful and she was so full of life, she seemed great. On Monday night Zack has his baseball game. We went to the game, we were so happy the cria had finally been born. We came home to a very lethargic cria. I don't know if we caught her at a time she was sleepy, or if she wasn't getting enough mother's milk. We hadn't yet weighed her or given her the necessary shots.

She weighed in at 17 pounds - we were a bit surprised she was that big. She seemed small to us (after having Sancha's cria that are always around 21 pounds, we knew this one was smaller). Her teeth are there, but not as erupted as you would think for 374 days gestation. When she was given her first shot, she didn't even flinch. I was happy when she got feisty over the second shot. She needs to be at least a bit feisty to survive.

J ended up syringing some cria formula into her. We also gave her an enema. We hadn't seen meconium pass, and I've heard of times the cria doesn't nurse well until it does. After all this, she was much more alert. By then, it was after 9 p.m. The question became, do we get up every two hours to see if she needs more food, or do we let Maddie take over? Maddie was being extremely attentive. She spit at Spot through the fence if Spot even looked at the cria. Maddie screamed at us every time we touched the cria. And Maddie would not leave the cria's side. Even when we found the cria lethargic, she was laying at Maddie's feet. J tried to milk Maddie and found she has plenty of milk. That indicates to me that the cria has fed, at least some (for it to come out so easily).

I went to bed, thinking I'd be up a few times throughout the night. Around 12 or 1 a.m. I woke up to the sounds of thunder and could see lightning. I rushed out of bed and ran out to the barn to see how Twilight was. I found her, sitting sternal next to Maddie. Next to them was Snickers and Rose. Unfortunately, they were not in the barn, but they were together, with all four of the little girls right on the other side of the fence. Twilight seemed fine. While I wanted to put her in the barn, we have no way to shut them in this barn. And, I remember last year, the day Pocahontas was born, it rained that night. Twice I ran out to put her in the barn, and twice she walked right back out. At least this time the mom was out with the cria (Kateri sat in the barn looking at her cria in the rain!). Pocahontas was fine, and Twilight will be too. I think some times humans are too quick to intervene, and we really want Maddie to mother this cria. So, I went inside (now wet from rain), praying the cria would continue to do well, next to her mother.

Next thing I know it's the early hours of the morning, I about jump out of bed to check on Twilight, and J says "she's fine." She made it through the night. I hope she perks up today.