Pray for our Newest Female Cria

Yesterday was not a good day. The events started sometime in the wee morning hours and ended at 11PM last night when we got home. Actually, it is still on-going.

I woke up yesterday terrified that I would miss the next alpaca birth, which was due on 9/15. Last year, Bellafina went 10 days early so that would have put her birth and my due date within days of each other. Can you imagine being 40 wks pregnant and trying to deliver or take care of a newborn cria? Bellafina has been acting strange the night before and I told Rob I didn't think she would make it to September for the birth. Well....I was right.

I got up with Rob at 4:30 AM. I peeked out the window and all alpacas were happily in their shelter. Wonderful. I stayed up reading a book and around 7:45 AM decided to go out and feed everyone and replenish water since I had a Dr. appt's and needed to leave. Normally, I was going out much later in the morning to do this. I took care of my boys and grabbed grain to head to the girl's field. I noticed when I looked over to the field that I was missing 3 alpacas. Okay, so 3 decided to stay in the barn instead of going out to graze that morning.

I walked up to the girls shelter and 2 of the girls ran off. That left 2 in the barn - Bellafina and a newborn cria. Holy crap. I was thinking it was a month early, but it was only 19 days early. However, this poor thing had been born hours before. The sac was dried on its body and still covered its nose/mouth. Thankfully, it had broke and the cria was getting oxygen somehow. It was cushed and shaking. We have been leaving the fans on all night because of the temps/humidity. I immediately turned them off. Locked Bellafina and her cria in and then took off the dried sac. I then ran into the house to get my cria kit, which wasn't even prepared yet! Can you see a 38 wk pregnant woman running?

After grabbing the kit, some towels, my hair dryer, cell phone, and making solution to dip the umbilical cord I went back out. On my way, I tried to call the vet whose message said she was out of town. Wonderful. :-( I then called a local farm to ask for their assistance. Luck was on my side because her husband, Rich, could help me out. He said once he finished his chores he would head over. I also called our mentoring farm who told me they had a cria born that early and it was okay and not to panic or put myself into labor. At this point, Peggy (Rich's wife) called me back to say that Tanya was indeed off vacation and to leave her a message. I did.

I then proceeded to dry the cria off by toweling her dry and using the hair dryer. I also tried a temp, but my thermometer said "Low". Never had that happen before. I tried to syringe in some Karo syrup too to jump start her. Rich showed up and he got his thermometer and her temp was at 91 degrees. WAY TOO LOW. While he made a hay bed, I came into the house to get bags filled with warn/hot water. I went back out and we packed the cria in the hay bed with the water bags and a blanket over her. We also ran the hair dryer a few times under the blanket. She was shaking pretty bad. Her temp was slowing going up at 1-1.5 degrees per 30 min. Good, but not quick enough.

I had some powder colostrum so I came into the house to make up a batch of that. During this time, I had talked to my vet and after her 10AM appt she was heading over once she located some plasma to do a transfusion. My pet sitter, Megan, also showed up to help us out. Needless to say, I cancelled my dr. appts. Rich and I were talking about what to do. He offered his trailer up so we could take mom and cria to New Bolton, if needed. I agreed so he left to get his trailer. Megan kept an eye on the cria while I ran into the house to get dressed- just in case we ended up driving to New Bolton. The cria was not doing very well. While I was in the house, her breathing was getting erratic. I told Megan to start rubbing her chest and neck to get some blood moving. It seemed once she laid her head down she had trouble breathing. The good news is that she could keep herself cushed and she would try to get up. However, her legs wouldn't support her.

I will mention she is very premature. Her ears are floppy, no teeth erupted and lack of muscle control. She did weigh 14.9 lbs, which is a healthy sized cria.

Rich showed up with his trailer and the vet was right behind her. We actually had 2 vets. They have a new vet training that came also to help Tanya out and learn about the alpacas. Rich grabbed the cria and I took Bellafina and we walked them up to the trailer to be worked on. Everyone was fabulous. Rich held the cria while the vet did her stuff. I grabbed supplies as she needed them. The cria was tube feed 4 oz of the powder colostrum I had made and 1/4 tablet of kerfate. It was also shaved for the transfusion (my vet does it through the abdomen and not via IV) and the transfusion was started. After which, the cria got a shot of Naxcel. We put her down to rest and be with mom.

At this point, Rich and Megan left along with the second vet. Tanya gave me a list if instructions and said if I couldn't do it then we should think of New Bolton, but it would be a $3-5K vet bill for the 24 hr care. We decided to do it on our own. Feeding every 2 hrs by tubing, naxcel 4x/day, kerafate 3x/day and keeping a close eye on her. She did try to get up a few times and within hours of the transfusion looked much better.

Around 1:30PM, I tried to tube her and couldn't tell if I was doing it right. I tried to bottle feed her and she wouldn't take the bottle because her suck reflex isn't quite strong enough. Rob finally came home and we tried. Finally got it. At this point, I also had Rich back over to help too. I had to get her fed or the vet said we would lose ground. Another 2 oz in her. I headed off to try to find some smaller nipples, buy whole milk and yogurt. I got home around 5:30 PM. When I looked in she was mouth breathing. Not good at all. I got the feeding supplies and tubed her again. Another 2 oz in her this time with kerafate added. I kept an eye on her and I was very concerned with her breathing and she wasn't as perky as she had been an hour before. I finally convinced my husband to drive us to New Bolton. I wasn't sure she would live through the night.

I called New Bolton so they would be expecting us and called the vet to leave a message about the breathing and what we were doing. The vet also called New Bolton to tell them what we had done that day so they knew what to expect when we got there. New Bolton is an hour plus drive. We had the cria in the cab with us and Bellafina in the trailer. I was happy to see the mouth breathing stopped once she got into the A/C cab for awhile. However, it was still raspy.

At New Bolton, they were very efficient. The cria was immediately given oxygen and evaluated. They put a catheter in her to draw blood and for future medicines. We were talked to about treatment plans, cost, and basically told it could go either way. We left and they said they would call when the initial blood work was back.

Not long before we got home, the call came in. The blood work was concerning. The IGG was 400 and white blood cell count 1400 (normally 5000). This was a concern to the vet because it means a weaken immune system and infection. They checked Bellafina and she did not have an infection so whatever the cria had was really early and picked up after birth. I told them the cord hadn't been dipped much at the beginning because we were more concerned with temp. She said they are concerned about sepsis (with any premature cria but especially with her levels) and they would monitor that. They had a blood culture going. They were increasing the Naxcel and going to give another transfusion overnight. She said we did everything we could and in a timely manner. There was nothing else Tanya or I could have done. It is up to the cria now to see how she reacts to the treatments. She also said we were good to bring the cria in to them and not wait longer.

Now, we are waiting. I should get an update this morning on how she made out overnight. She seems to be a fighter and has very alert periods and then losses it. The vet said it could go either way. She has alot in her favor, but the two biggie's against her. We are praying for this little girl. We hope you will keep her in your thoughts. She is a beautiful medium to dark fawn female with dense fleece. Everything we were hoping to get from this breeding.

I'll keep this post updated.