Brittany’s Baby

On Thursday night, when I was hanging out at B section, Helene’s final mare went into labor with her first fowl. Before I knew it, I was being rushed to the scene of the delivery and I watched the whole thing unfold.
It was absolutely incredible. It was dark and calm, and yet, in the middle of the stable, the mare was lying on her side, breathing heavily and trying to push her baby out. I sat and watched as the baby’s legs and head, wrapped in a thick, slimy sack, slowly came out. Helene and her workers were all there to make sure the right body parts were coming out first, but they try to do as little as possible. At one point, when it was obvious the mare was exhausted, they gave a little tug on the legs and everything slid out.
The mare was exhausted, but still seemed curious to see her little one, and kept looking back and sniffing. According to Helene, this is not always the case with some mares, who prefer to collapse or eat rather than check out their new babies. This was a sign that this was going to be a good mother.
I continued to watch as, over the next 30 minutes, the fowl tried to stand up on its wobbly, thin legs. That was probably the most amazing part – this fowl, less than 30 minutes old, was already quite large and was standing, like a little adult! According to Helene, she looked like she would be a great race horse one day because it was evident, as we watched her try to stand, that she was strong and feisty.
The other part that was really interesting was watching the mare give birth to her afterbirth. It was this sloppy, bloody, hanging thing that Helene had to put a knot in to avoid it being stepped on. It’s really important that the mare give birth to her afterbirth in one piece, because if any of it remains it can cause internal bleeding and the mare can die. We waiting for a good hour, but the afterbirth wouldn’t come out, so Helene had to give an injection to the mare. Within 5 minutes the bloody afterbirth slid out and the mare and fowl seemed healthy and, so this was declared a successful birth.
What an amazing phenomenon to witness. I was in tears for a good part of the birth, especially watching the new mom interact with her little one, as it wobbled its way around the stable.
Helene and I joked about naming it B.B., which is the name of my boss’ brother’s wife, but would actually stand for Brittany’s Baby!
I was so excited to see B.B. again that I went to B section on Saturday morning, ready to take pictures for my blog. But B.B. had been sent to Harare because she was really sick. Apparently, she hadn’t been drinking her mom’s milk, and this is bad, bad news. The baby’s originally feisty strength quickly deteriorated, as the weather and the lack of milk dehydrated her. By Saturday morning, Helene wasn’t sure she was going to make it, so had B.B. sent to Harare to get on drips and try to rescue her.
As of this morning, B.B seems to be doing slightly better, but she’s not out of the woods yet. I’m praying, in my own little way, for B.B. to get better. After all, she is my first baby.