I didn't get any really good pictures today, had to do some more mundane stuff like buy groceries and do some housework. But I did get a picture of him in his clean jammies tonight. It's rather windy and it's snowing. Yuck. I'll be happy when I don't have to dress him anymore.

I know, Bella is pretty dirty... Plus she got a bit of a scrape along her side one day before the baby was here. She'd kind of rearranged a panel and then tried to squeeze through a spot that wasn't quite wide enough for her. I have been grooming her a bit, but most of my time with them is spent handling Scout and giving Bella scratches in all the best places to remind her that I'm not a monster. She gets upset when I hold her baby, so I want to make sure to arrive and leave on a good note with her.

That baby! I must admit, I was worried after handling him last night. He violently reacted to being held and rubbed. It took quite a while for him to calm down, and I really felt bad for putting him through it. I came in the house last night discouraged and worried.

Today was much better though. I caught him during the day and checked his umbilical stump for any signs of infection, then rubbed him all over. He learned to give to pressure at the poll rather than exploding upward. He really doesn't like having his nose handled, but we made progress there too. Tonight when I caught him, checked the stump, changed his blanket and rubbed him he was MUCH better. Not perfect, but he didn't hurt me and he's learning not to push or lean or try to bolt. His head still bears watching, he did catch me in the jaw and teeth today. We even had some really tender moments just checking each other out. I got to kiss his little nose, and I found a spot he actually liked being scratched. Wonderful progress!

I'm really watching those knees, waiting for them to straighten out. I know a lot of babies are born a lot more crooked than he is and they grow out of it. I'm sure he will too, but I will feel a lot better when those legs straighten out. I don't know how long that usually takes.

All in all, a great day! I'm sure enjoying them, especially when they get frisky and run and buck all over the place.

This kid is just too much fun to take pictures of. I promise, these'll be the last ones today.

This one is for Laura:

Okay then, I finally got my daughter to agree to the name. His name is Scout. He just happens to be named after a girl, but she's a scrappy, brave, strong, and loyal girl. Kinda stubborn too, but we'll ignore that part. If you've ever read To Kill a Mockingbird you know why I admire her. It also happens to be the name of Tonto's horse, so I'll have to start watching some Lone Ranger...

Welcome to the world little Scout!

Thank you all so much for all your thoughts and prayers. This has been a rough time. It's amazing how deeply they worm their way into your heart.

It turns out that while they were there he showed no signs of a problem at all. I know I didn't imagine it, so I think the stress of it all may have gotten his bowels moving. Or maybe they would have been fine on their own. I don't know, but I am happy he is fine.

Here's a picture through the front side of their stall.
And a kind of blurry one in the stall. There's a window on the left hand side where the students sit, and I guess he kept pressing his lips up against the glass, and both of them were enjoying people watching. I think everyone there liked him. But what's not to like? Although he did give them a fight the second time they pulled blood.

Here we are at home. I think he's feeling better. I also think poor Bella is going to be a tired mama!

"Speed. I am Speed"

And of course I had to get a cute face shot. None of these pictures do him justice, he's just the cutest thing!

I'm fairly certain I have him named. Just have to make sure the kids don't completely hate it.

He's OK! Pooping and everything is totally fine! Except for his low-ish passive transfer levels. Going to think on whether do do the plasma. Heading in there now.

I STILL haven't heard from the hospital. It's almost 9:30! They have to have all their day staff there now... Calling just got me voice mail... I don't understand. I'm starting to really stress out again... But it actually probably means they're fine. They were going to call me if they had any problems. The trailer is hitched and waiting. I so hope I get a call telling me to come get them!

He's doing okay. They did a bunch of tests, everything looks good except that he didn't quite get enough colostrum. It's borderline though, and they don't want to give him plasma yet. His small intestine and organs looked good in the ultrasound, but they can't see the large intestine. She couldn't feel an obstruction when she felt around manually. They're staying the night there for observation. He wasn't showing any of the pain symptoms while I was there, but she said that's pretty normal, they get interested in their new environment and it takes a while for them to notice the pain again. Oh, and his umbilicus didn't feel like it had closed off completely, but didn't seem infected at all.

I was supremely impressed with miss Bella. She's only known humans for just over 6 months. I haven't taken her anywhere. This horse has trailer loaded only once before without a loading chute. She loaded into a strange trailer with her baby behind her, no problem. He followed her right in. She hauled in to town on crappy roads and didn't step on her baby. They unloaded just fine after she got a look around. (Why are people always in a hurry to make them get out, not let them take 30 seconds to look? Offers of "Do you want me to get in there and get her out?" Nope, just let her look...) Baby followed her into the hospital, with a slight pause (on her part) at the door. He went on the scale (89 pounds) and then they went past a scary garbage can and into a nice bright stall. There were 3-4 people in there messing with the baby, plus me and my sister. Talk about a crash course in being handled by more than one person at once! This horse is barely halter broke, has never been on any outings, has only been handled by me, AND has a baby at her side being messed with. She was a DREAM. She was a bit scared of the ultrasound machine, but got over that pretty quickly once she'd investigated it, then watched the screen like any mom would. Wow, I am so impressed with her!

The baby - he hated his exams, but other than that he nursed and slept and peed. And shot an enema back out with no poop. He was a good little mama follower, didn't need to be led or restrained at all on the way in. I hope he doesn't learn to hate people after all this abuse...

Hopefully I'll get a call saying he's fine and go pick them up in the morning. My gut tells me there is something wrong, but I'm really hoping my gut is wrong.

Please pray for our wee man. He's still not pooping and he's hurting really bad. I'm taking him in to WSU. The vet says we need to either ultrasound or x-ray, and he doesn't have the equipment to penetrate that far. It's either an obstruction (I hope) or a twist.

Warning: Extreme Cuteness Ahead

He's doing fine. Still not pooping though. Vet said to give him a day. That made me feel better, I thought if they were impacted they'd go downhill fast. He doesn't think he's impacted based on my description of how much meconium he passed.

Tonka, waiting for his special weight gain feed. He's looking good, but you can still readily feel a lot of ribs. I know he's just growing, but I don't want him to look starved... I really need to spend some time with him, but I also have a riding lesson, fence to put up so the baby can get out on pasture, etc. Hopefully I can get a lot of that done today. We'll see... Heck, if nothing else Tonka can "help" me work on the fence.

Mom and baby are out for the day, except when I leave for my riding lesson. I'll put them in the stall so I know they can't get into trouble.

I am so tired. About to pass out on my feet and still so much to do. So just a quick update. My worries: He wasn't nursing on both sides-resolved. He isn't pooping by himself-not resolved after 2 enemas. He pooped so much last night I thought we were home free, but now he's not... So I'm going to go give him another at feeding time, and then hopefully sleep for half the night before checking on them again. He's not violently straining or rolling or doing anything that causes me great alarm, but I need him to pass those hard little poops so he can have some normal milk poop!

Isn't he just the cutest!

Oh, and luckily Bella is putting up with my meddling. She doesn't like it when he struggles, but I still have my head, so it must be okay. She just runs circles around us when I harass him. She's showing some signs of discomfort in the belly, but nothing terrible.

He's looking hard for that milk, and she's cooperating, so it shouldn't be long now before he gets a good first meal. He's actually latched on a couple times, then lost it. Still very game to keep trying, but I think he's getting tired. Looks just like mama!

I got out there within 5 minutes of her water breaking (wasn't in a huge hurry, didn't really believe for sure that this was it). He was out, with just his hind legs still in, head uncovered but otherwise still in the membrane. He was grunting, which worried me, but it didn't last long. He started trying to get up while still partially inside the mare, so I went in after a few of his struggles and pulled his hind legs out. Poor kid, he had a lot of trouble getting up. No more than is usual, I'm sure, but it was hard to watch him fumbling!

Eventually I got the umbilicus dipped in iodine. She was circling and so worked up that he couldn't get close enough to try to nurse, so we came in. When I went back out he was trying like crazy. She is very hungry too.

Oh, he did poop at least 5 times. Very important. I have yet to see him pee.

I don't think I'm going to be able to go back in the stall right away, so hopefully they'll be just fine by themselves until she's comfortable with me again.

I'm headed back out with some warm water for her and to make sure progress is being made. Hopefully I can put some more bedding in the stall too, if she'll let me.

HE?'s HERE!

Not totally sure of the sex yet. Birth was good, quick. She's having trouble standing still to let him nurse. Giving them a minute alone and then heading back out.

So I'm pretty sure Bella has the "waxy wax" that Doris has commented on here. Yay! I don't put any stock in it meaning she'll actually have the baby this year, but we'll see. :) Seriously though, she's not showing any other signs just yet. Maybe she's waiting until past midnight to have it on April Fool's Day. That would be doubly cool, because that's one of my favorite horse's birthdays. He'll be 30 this year, the wonderful old man. I need to remember to take him some treats and give him a good grooming. He doesn't shed too well, and loves to be curried this time of year.

Here's the April Fool's birthday boy, a wonderful, wonderful horse:

Coda AKA George AKA Skipper's Gold Rush
(George, of all names, for such a horse! Absurd!)

Look at that cute, kissable nose...

So last night, after I discovered the white milk, I had a bit of a panic-stricken moment. What have I gotten myself into? I'm not ready for a baby, I have no need for a baby, what if things go wrong, what if I don't have enough time to train all these horses, what if this and what if that? Etc, etc. Wow, it really felt like a nightmare, this feeling that I'm in over my head. I think I remember feeling that way with my own kids. At least with Katia. I had the freakiest nightmares when I brought her home, all about inadequacy in parenting, or horrible accidents leaving her or my niece (who was 9 months old) dead. These feelings must be perfectly natural. But not much fun...

She spent a pretty quiet night, and was happy to be let out and fed this morning. Her teats were kind of shiny, coated a bit with milk, but the drips you could see hanging there were hard, not wet, so I couldn't check to see if the milk is sticky or what... I figure if it dries shiny it must have some sugar to it. But that's about all I could see that was different about her.

Oh, I did try the hill trick yesterday after it looked like the baby had slipped back down out of position again. Stood her on a hill (luckily it had grass to keep her occupied) with her butt in the air to give the baby room to get situated and moved back into place. There was a definite change in her shape after I did that.

Bella has white milk! I caught a drip on my finger tonight. This is good.

It's Sunday again, so maybe we'll get a baby full of grace? Ah, well, who knows... She's looking close again though. It's a nice day for once, sun instead of snow.

I just got done with some nice zen butt scratching. Not my butt, you weirdo! Bella's! And her neck, and her chest, belly, and strangely enough, the insides of her back legs. She seemed to think maybe I'd be willing to hold her up while I scratched her there, but I had to refuse. She is so very itchy! Her hind end is very short-haired. Almost bald. Her neck and side have lots of fried-looking ruffled hair, breaking down from all the rubbing.

I better get to the point and get going, my family just walked in the door. Bella is dripping milk a bit again, and we have SERIOUS kicking in the croup. I haven't seen anything this violent yet. I think she's having contractions again too, she kept stopping eating to stand there and zone out and breathe. So maybe she'll have this critter sometime in this lifetime...

Now don't laugh. Or at least don't laugh too hard and hurt yourself. I am NOT a seamstress. More like the skill level of a demented 6th grader... And I was making it up as I went along. No pattern for me! It'd just confuse me... Now, I just hope they work...

They both have 2 layers of fleece, old remnants I had just laying around. Luckily there are two of them, so the baby can wear one while I wash the other. Fleece and straw probably don't go together too well... Actually, they probably DO stick together too well. I reinforced the belly strap with denim because it doesn't stretch. I think I did alright, for someone who doesn't sew...

Oh, and in case you think I'm prejudiced toward a colt because of the blue, I used all pink thread on both! Not on purpose really, but it's what my daughter had on her sewing machine. Man, I'm lame. I know. I just can't help it...

I went and got my baby monitor the other day. I LOVE it. Well, except for when it brings the lovely sound of jake brakes directly into my bedroom... It lets me sleep better. I still wake up and look out every hour and a half, but if I don't see her all I have to do is listen, and she's never having the baby, so I haven't had to go outside the last 3 nights. Which is nice, because the weather is HORRIBLE. High winds driving snow in your face, down your neck, etc.

Bella has made very little forward progress. Her bag was a bit more full this morning. Everything else seems to have gone backward...

Today my project will be making a foal blanket. Unless I can find one at the feed store. I doubt it though... I had thought I wouldn't need one, but since we're suddenly time-warped back into January, it turns out I do. Wish me luck, I am not at all handy with a sewing machine!

Since Bella still hasn't had her baby, and I really have nothing much to write about, here's a little tour of our horse shed, sometimes called "the barn" although that can get confusing because we do have an actual barn. That barn is pretty much useless and about to come down though, thanks to some previous owner taking most of the supports out. Some people just aren't too bright...

Here we have Bella's foaling stall, which is actually two of the three stalls that make up the shed, making it 24x16 feet. I'm only keeping it half bedded lately, since she's in no hurry to be doing much... I'd skip the bedding completely, but then if the baby did come it wouldn't have anything warm to lay on. As you can see, the hens love the straw. It still has a bit of barley in it, which they are of course overjoyed to scratch around and find. The white powder on the ground is Sweet PDZ, which is a wonderful product. I've never had to use it before, since I don't keep my horses stalled. It's the safe alternative to lime, and immediately kills the ammonia from all the pee. Which is important because babies laying down in ammonia can get pneumonia. Of course ammonia isn't good for adult horses either. The black balls on the pole are gate hardware covered in tennis balls covered in Vetrap. Bella loves to itch there. A gate in both forward corners keeps the downward slope covered so the baby can't roll out. There are two flaps in the back that can be opened to promote airflow. Which we certainly don't need with all this wind. You can drop hay through them too if necessary, but I like to actually get in with my horses when I feed so I can be sure nothing is amiss.

This is a portion of the third stall. It's my feed area. Like my "door?" I tied it on with twine to keep the snow from blowing in anymore. We had a minor blizzard last night. The area was pretty well covered by the time I went out there this morning, darn it. Eventually we'll put a real door up, but for now my plywood does the job okay.

My nifty bucket on its nifty bracket. This is safe for the baby, nothing to drown in since it's up high enough that baby won't have access.

Here's Tonka yesterday, trying on a new bit. He isn't too happy because of the high wind and a tarp flapping nearby. I'm not sure the full cheek is going to work with the slobber straps. I'll try moving the bit hobble below the reins and maybe they won't get hung up on the bit. My sister gave me this because all of my bits have copper, and I think he's allergic to it. He gets red spots all over his gums and lips when I ride. It's not like the bit is rubbing or pinching him, because the spots are pretty widespread and quite small. I think he likes the shape of the mouthpiece on this one, it has a lot of curve to it.

Oh, and behind Tonka in the picture you can see where Bella busted out of the mustang pen last year. Still not fixed, even though the lumber has been sitting there for a while, waiting. What can I say, just about everything around here is a work in progress...