Terrible Start to a Morning

We lost a lamb this morning. And it devastates me every time. If I had been there in time, this lamb may not have died. Or it might have.

Let me back up.

My flock has had the longest drawn out lambing season ever. It started in October, and we just had, what I thought were my last lambs just at the end of March. I had one ewe left to go, my biggest girl, Onyx, and she didn't seem pregnant. So I assumed she skipped a lambing season, which is very unlike her.

And then Shannon noticed her utters got HUGE. YUP, surprise pregnant mama!

I noticed what looked like a slight prolapse yesterday. Our last ewe prolapsed as well, and Larry had CSU out to insert a prolapse spoon on her. She was woolly and they tied the spoon into her wool. Onyx has no wool, and I hadn't bought the harness for it yet, so I looked at some Youtube videos to see how I could manage this. I found a video showing how to build a prolapse harness just out of vet wrap. Since I didn't know how to insert the spoon, I tried this method.

Before the harness, I tried to go in and see if she had a lamb that I could pull. I could only get 3 fingers in, which said she was dilated but not enough. So lamb was incoming. If I could have pulled it, I likely would have. So we put on the harness and kept her quiet and calm in a barn stall, and I watched her through the camera to make sure everything was OK.

My alarm went off early this morning and the first thing I did was check the camera. THERE WAS A BABY, and it wasn't moving.

I grabbed my kit and ran outside. After I came back in, I had to piece everything together. I went back and watched the camera footage and here is what happened.

The lamb was coming out backwards. NOT breech, just rear legs first. This alone it not cause for alarm, and it appears that mama got the baby out fine.

However, lambs generally come out with their face and their front hooves first. This process USUALLY breaks the amniotic sac, and the lamb's face is outside, so it can breath during labor.

In this image, you can see mama standing up between contractions. Those are rear legs hanging out from her backside. They have some straw stuck to them from the amniotic fluid. As I watched the footage, the legs were moving. There were some very strong kicks.

In this presentation, which can be OK - the amniotic sac broke from the rear legs coming through the birth canal. But the baby's face is inside, where it can't breath. The kicking is likely the lamb trying to sort out why it can't breathe. And if it is trying to breath, it is breathing in liquid.

Baby does pop out, and it moves some, so it isn't expired when it drops. Mama tends to it right away, but it isn't moving like a newborn usually does. She is licking and pawing at it, which are all good maneuvers. This is a good mama.

I wake up, check my camera feed and THIS is what I see. Baby that isn't moving. I RUN down to the barn as fast as I can. When I get there, I see mama pawing at baby and its face is covered in the amniotic sac.

It tries to take a breath as I am pulling the sac off the face. I clean out the mouth, the nostrils and it is gasping, but the rest of the body is limp. I start aggressively rubbing with a towel, while allowing mama to lick the baby. Baby needs that stimulation.

Just gasping. But there is a solid heartbeat. So I start mouth to mouth. I breathe into the baby, and continue to vigorously rub (or let mama do it, her pawing instinct was correct here).

Baby continues to gasp. But its eyes are non-responsive, meaning that we may have already lost brain function. I'm not entirely sure there was anything I could have done EXCEPT be there sooner. If I had been there when she first went into labor and had seen that the baby was coming out backwards, I would have pulled it and immediately removed any sack on the face. I could have saved it. It was a beautiful baby boy.

I hate losing babies. I hate losing newborns. Especially when MAYBE if my alarm had gone off 20 minutes prior, I could have saved that baby.

We both really tried, and Onyx is completely despondent. She has spent all morning crying for her baby. I let her spend some time licking the baby even after I knew it was gone, but I did remove it and bury it for her. It's a damn shame. And it makes me so sad. She's an amazing mama. And that baby was so wanted.