First-Timer (me, not the doe) on Kidding Watch in the "barn"

[zzGypsy]

she might still not be in proper labor yet. my sheep and some of my goats, when they're ultra wide like yours is, will lay down, pant, stop breathing for a few seconds, then pant, then hold their breath... I think it's just a product of having too much baby inside and not enough room for lungs. I've had them do that for a couple of weeks sometimes (rare, but does happen with the biiiiiiig ones)

If I had to guess, based on not being able to actually observe, I'd say she's close, but not in labor. could even be a couple of days. I'd go with the baby monitor and check her every hour, or every half if you can't take it any longer. once the baby's in the birth canal and she's really delivering, that can take a while without damage to the kid if the birthing position is normal. chances are good that she'll just pop them out in the half hour between checks, but if she has trouble, she'll probably squawk, and even if she doesn't a half hour of birthing process without success shouldn't harm the kid.

 

[kayzee]

Gypsy, you make a lot of sense! Deborah of Antiquity Oaks, IMHO reining goddess of Nigi wisdom said this:

So, it sounds like you're seeing part of Spot's cervix rather than a kid. Her behavior sounds a lot like our early experiences with goats giving birth. If she is not bagged up, she is probably not going to kid anytime soon and is not really in labor. The first few years we had goats, we spent a lot of nights in the barn with a goat that we thought was about to kid -- sometimes for two days! I actually know a woman who spent a whole week living like that, and then she had her vet come out, and he told her the goats were not even pregnant. Talk about a depressing experience! Spot certainly looks pregnant though, so I wouldn't worry about her pregnancy status.
.
The most frustrating thing about our early experiences is that it usually seemed like whenever I'd throw my hands up and think that I had NO idea what I was doing and come into the house -- after two days of goat sitting -- the goat would kid!
Permalink Reply by Deborah Niemann-Boehle 3 hours ago
As big as she is, she could just be miserably breathing, but not necessarily through contractions. I had a goat last year that sounded liked Darth Vader every time she laid down for the last week. The first time I heard it, it really scared me, and I ran in the house and starting trying to find info about pneumonia during pregnancy. After finding nothing, I went back outside and realized she was fine when she was standing up. She was just huge and miserable -- turned out she had quads in there.

Katie L Zollinger said:
Oh, for heaven's sake. After spending all night miserably panting through contractions, at 5AM sharp Spot stood up and helped herself to a hearty breakfast of hay, with only one contraction break. Then at 5:15 she lay back down again and got right back to business.
▶ Reply
Message
Permalink Reply by Deborah Niemann-Boehle 3 hours ago
My daughter just looked at the picture of Spot and pointed out that her legs are underneath her. When they're pushing, they are literally pushing their legs out towards something.

 

[zzGypsy]

Gypsy, you make a lot of sense! Deborah of Antiquity Oaks, IMHO reining goddess of Nigi wisdom said this:

Permalink Reply by Deborah Niemann-Boehle 3 hours ago
My daughter just looked at the picture of Spot and pointed out that her legs are underneath her. When they're pushing, they are literally pushing their legs out towards something.

typically true... some of mine lay on their side, but I've got one who delivers from a slightly reclined legs tucked under. apparently hadn't read the book. there's always one in the flock...

 

[kayzee]

AND WE'RE BACK! My Mama-sense is tingling....I think today is the day. (Unless she has conspired with the boy child again to get him another day home from school....tomorrow I have an MRI in a neighboring city, so if she holds out through today he'll have to stay home to be on kidding watch while I'm gone.) Her sides have hollowed out, or at least begun to, but I didn't find a mucous blob and I could SWEAR I still feel some tendons....frankly, I think they feel firmer than they did three days ago.

...could be that my mind is playing tricks on me because I desperately want to sleep, and of course. I've been on "nesting" adrenaline for three days and not really slept other than a short light snooze here and there. That ALMOST changed this morning when I fell into a lovely deep sleep at 6am....and at 6:40 the boy-child startled me awake with a matter of great urgency. Could he have some money for hot lunch? There's nothing good to pack. (that sound you hear is my head banging against the wall...)

There's something to be said for the nesting instinct, however. I finished projects yesterday that I've had boy-child working on for two YEARS with minimal progress. I have some physical limitations that normally make more than about ten minutes of yard work at a time out of the question....yesterday I must have done at least five hours. I'm in crazy pain already and the adrenaline hasn't worn off yet! The extended aftermath of this just might require the purchase of a wheelchair.

Oh my, I dozed of for a couple of hours while I was typing this! Time to go check on Spot again! (Get out the pom poms, cheer along with me: "GO SPOT GO!" ...I'd make up a better cheer but my sleep-deprived brain has shut down access to my inner rhyming dictionary...)

 

[SarahFair]

I read somewhere, and if I remember in my own experience, you will know when the tendons are gone. There will be no second guessing.

Im hoping you get to see it! It is a wonderful thing!

 

[kayzee]

Silly, silly me. Of course she didn't kid today. It may not be specifically listed, but it's certainly against the spirit of the Doe Code to kid on any day when the your owner has announced "I think today is the day!" Having said that, I would like to announce: I think tomorrow will NOT be the day. (Seriously though, yesterday was her due date and she's absolutely enormous. She NEEDS to birth them babies, the sooner the better, or they're gonna get stuck in there, a scenario too terrifying for me to even form a mental picture of.)

I've been pasted to the baby monitor, of course, which has been interesting.....last night about 10:30 there was the most godawful racket: I recognized it immediately and almost fell out of bed laughing. Once I caught my breath, I explained to perplexed hubby that one of them was chewing on the baby monitor. She was doing this, I explained, because it's white plastic. The lid to the jar of chewable vitamin C (their favorite treat) is also white plastic and gets an enthusiastic chewing anytime they can get it away from me. It's covered with the dust from the tablets and they seem to regard it as the extra-large version of the coveted little white morsels. Since then, all white plastic has to be thoroughly tasted and tested for evidence of hidden deliciousness. Frankly, I'm surprised that the monitor made it three whole days before they went after it. No deliciousness was discovered, however, and the monitor escaped unscathed.

 

[Ms. Research]

Silly, silly me. Of course she didn't kid today. It may not be specifically listed, but it's certainly against the spirit of the Doe Code to kid on any day when the your owner has announced "I think today is the day!" Having said that, I would like to announce: I think tomorrow will NOT be the day. (Seriously though, yesterday was her due date and she's absolutely enormous. She NEEDS to birth them babies, the sooner the better, or they're gonna get stuck in there, a scenario too terrifying for me to even form a mental picture of.)

I've been pasted to the baby monitor, of course, which has been interesting.....last night about 10:30 there was the most godawful racket: I recognized it immediately and almost fell out of bed laughing. Once I caught my breath, I explained to perplexed hubby that one of them was chewing on the baby monitor. She was doing this, I explained, because it's white plastic. The lid to the jar of chewable vitamin C (their favorite treat) is also white plastic and gets an enthusiastic chewing anytime they can get it away from me. It's covered with the dust from the tablets and they seem to regard it as the extra-large version of the coveted little white morsels. Since then, all white plastic has to be thoroughly tasted and tested for evidence of hidden deliciousness. Frankly, I'm surprised that the monitor made it three whole days before they went after it. No deliciousness was discovered, however, and the monitor escaped unscathed.

Hoping she births those babies soon. Wishing a nice easy birth for Mom and healthy kids.

Thanks so much for sharing the monitor story. lol

K

 

[Cabinchick]

 

[zzGypsy]

Silly, silly me. Of course she didn't kid today. It may not be specifically listed, but it's certainly against the spirit of the Doe Code to kid on any day when the your owner has announced "I think today is the day!" Having said that, I would like to announce: I think tomorrow will NOT be the day. (Seriously though, yesterday was her due date and she's absolutely enormous. She NEEDS to birth them babies, the sooner the better, or they're gonna get stuck in there, a scenario too terrifying for me to even form a mental picture of.)

I've been pasted to the baby monitor, of course, which has been interesting.....last night about 10:30 there was the most godawful racket: I recognized it immediately and almost fell out of bed laughing. Once I caught my breath, I explained to perplexed hubby that one of them was chewing on the baby monitor. She was doing this, I explained, because it's white plastic. The lid to the jar of chewable vitamin C (their favorite treat) is also white plastic and gets an enthusiastic chewing anytime they can get it away from me. It's covered with the dust from the tablets and they seem to regard it as the extra-large version of the coveted little white morsels. Since then, all white plastic has to be thoroughly tasted and tested for evidence of hidden deliciousness. Frankly, I'm surprised that the monitor made it three whole days before they went after it. No deliciousness was discovered, however, and the monitor escaped unscathed.

that's because the deliciousness in all here in your writing!
you're fun to read
crossing fingers for healthy babies, delivered while you're there.

 

[kayzee]

UPDATE:

Still...............no...................kids. Life has slowed to a crawl, which centers around the visits, every few hours, to peep into Spot's lady bits, looking for good news, for a sign, for salvation from the never-ending waiting. Spot, all in all, is taking the delay rather well. Her feet JUST reach the ground now. If she went another week, they would stick straight out from the sides and we'd have to roll her around like a ball, which is what she resembles more and more. She is small even for a ND--certainly not more than 18" at the shoulder, so there's no much leg there to be reaching for the ground in any case, poor girl.

Several mornings I have gone out and found her belly slid, or sliding, down and her sides hollowing out and thought with delight that kidding was imminent. Nope. Turns out she can pop that belly right back up there and yell to be let out of the garage to play...or rather, to waddle around the yard. Sigh...