[gardenmum]

Originally Posted by IkesLittleHope

She's looking a lot like mine. Hope she foals soon! I can't believe how impatient I am...for several months I was like "oh yeah well she's going to have a foal some day" and now I'm checking every couple of hours.

Yeah, I know. I am not checking every couple hours but am documenting picture wise both morning and night (and in the afternoon if I am home) so I can see how she is changing. I find it interesting and, although I have watched 5 mares foal here many years back, I never took pics till the foaling. Three of the mares waxed a day or two before foaling, two did not. Not knowing this mares background, how she was before foaling, I keep checking morning and night and saying 'come-on girl'. LOL.

Good luck with your foaling... hope you get to see it!!

[gardenmum]

Well, finally getting somewhere with changes. Jacinta has been steadily growing udder since Jan 31. Her udder has been large now for a week but going down at night and up (with a little more growth each day) in the morning.

On Feb 29 morning her udder was, as usual, even larger than the day before, but when I checked on her around noontime, instead of her udder being a bit smaller from walking around outside, it was even larger and the nipples were filled in for the first time and beginning to get the "glossy" look. Also, from the side view it was obvious that the foal had started to shift as she had the beginning of the dropped look.



As of yesterday and today (this afternoon), her udder has continued to enlarge with more distention of the nipples and her whole butt end has dropped away. Her vulva has been getting more loose and longer the past three days. Today it is very loose.


Now to see what changes tomorrow brings....



HOPEFULLY Jacinta will have her baby by the weekend.... I HOPE... lol, but we all know how that goes!

Here are pics of her changes....

Udder Feb 28th


Udder Feb 29th


Udder March 1st


Udder March 2nd



Side view of her changed belly shape Feb 29th..instead of being rounded out to her flank, she has a steep straight slope.



Rear view
Feb 25th - butt has been slowly softening for awhile. Butt rubbing, as you can tell by her tail.


March 1st - Muscles and ligaments seem to have "melted" away. Tail head high, no real distinction between butt muscles and side leg muscles. Don't know why the her color came out orange looking, I just finished brushing all the dead hair off her. She is shedding UNBELIEVABLY for the past two weeks. My other mare is not shedding at all yet... it is still in the upper 20's daytime and teens night... so I feel bad that Jacinta is loosing all her coat!



Udder rear view...
Feb. 29th



March 1st - this bulge appeared overnight, the side the bulge is on is the side that was smaller than the other, I am wondering if this is the second quarter, on that side, filling in, that's all I can think of.


March 2nd - The bulge is filling into the rest of the udder and there is a slight bulge now on the opposite side. Also, the crease dividing the two sides is becoming much smaller. Obviously this girl is going to have a LARGE udder...lol.

[gardenmum]

Well, udder is very full and finally had a change in calcium in tested "milk" yesterday. I have tested twice in the past two weeks and both times it was 0 on the scale. Her udder growth/change in the past couple days made me decide to try yesterday again. Got a calcium of a good 50, although the ph was only down very little. Finally some change, though. I didn't try today, I just don't want to be "pulling" too much of the precious colostrum from her.

She was VERY uncomfortable last night and has been eating less hay the past couple days. Tonight she only ate a bit more than half of her grain ration and left the rest. This is very unusual, she LOVES her grain feedings and scarfs her night feeding down all the time, but tonight she was eating it very, very slowly, then just walked away from it. She finally did finish it but it took her a good two hours of going back every so often to eat at it.

Her udder is still getting larger and I feel bad for her because it feels very, very firm and warm. It feels like it would be uncomfortable!!!

The most exciting thing happened tonight, I saw the baby moving in her rump by her tail head. Her rump muscles are so caved in and loose her tail looks like it is sitting above, by itself. The foal hasn't moved so much in the past three weeks as it used to but I usually get to see light kicking movements in her belly by her udder and sometimes a jiggling of her whole belly as it tries to give big movements but can't. Tonight, though, after her brushing, the foal suddenly gave a few good sized movements (Well, not good sized compared to a month or two ago, but compared to the past two weeks) and I was shocked to see pushing movements also in her butt as the baby moved!! I put my hand on her butt and felt it "knocking" against my palm. I went into the house to get my sony digi to get some videos of it but, of course, the foal didn't move anymore after I got back out to the barn even though I staid out there for half an hour watching.

Hopefully the wait will come to an end soon. I am hoping to find her waxed within a couple days... fingers crossed...lol. I have pics but it is late and I am tired, will add pics later.

[Appylvr]

Well Jacinta... you held off too long and Yankee beat you to it! Hurry up so we can all see your little one!!!

[BuckinAround]

Come on, if Yankee can do it so can you! Soon.......what an amazing experience. Good luck.

[gardenmum]

Originally Posted by Appylvr

Well Jacinta... you held off too long and Yankee beat you to it! Hurry up so we can all see your little one!!!

Yeah, I keep telling her that too, but she just isn't listening to me...LOL. Well, it will happen when it is time, but I sure will be glad to see the little one healthy and standing on four feet.

Originally Posted by BuckinAround

Come on, if Yankee can do it so can you! Soon.......what an amazing experience. Good luck.

Thanks! And, congrats again. This was your first experience watching a foaling, I read in your post on your thread that your hands were shaking..lol.. I bet they were!! It is an amazing thing to watch and I don't think it gets any less anxious a thing to watch no matter how many times you watch it. There are just too many variables, and problems can arise, even if they are rare, so it is always so good to see the birthing done and all in good shape. I have watched 3 foalings, multiple goats kidding, and many puppy births. It always makes me a bit tense till all is done and everyone is fine. One time, many years ago, I had a goat that had twins and both twins were trying to come out at the same time, two front feet of one and one hind foot of the other... man, did that make me nervous!! My husband came out and pushed one back in and she had them ok, but boy was she blatting in pain. I don't think I will ever forget that night!!!

Your Doodle is adorable. I can't wait to see mine and be able to give it a hug.

[gardenmum]

Well, the baby has dropped and the "milk" I tested yesterday was between ph7.5 - 8.0 and calcium of about 150. She has been doing a lot of butt rubbing in the last few days and frequent belly watching & yawning, and is VERY tired.

Here are pics
This first one was taken on March 9th, I first noticed the belly starting to V on the 8th.



And here is a shot taken tonight, the 12th...



Her udder has been full, without going down during the day, for three days now and her vulva is swollen tonight. NO wax yet though, so, I am hoping that I will have a baby by this weekend.

Pics of her udder and vulva tonight...







I WANNA see my baby....LOL.

[Shannon]

Wow, she's really progressed in the past few days! Keeping my fingers crossed that you'll have a new healthy baby by the weekend

[Appylvr]

I hope she has it soon. I know you must be getting sick of the waiting...
I'll be sending prayers your way for a safe delivery and healthy foal.

[Miss Neigh]

eek.. im excited lol i bet it's a buckskin filly
i love my buckskins!