Should I assist? HELP!!!

[paynemom]

My first timer Molly(pygmy) seems to be in labor for the last 6 hours, had the long thick rope, but the contractions seem to come and go. Not very consistant. She is clearly pushing, but not all that hard. Lays down, gets back up, paws at the dirt. Won't eat or drink all day. Her vaginal opening is about 2 inches long. Her udder is super full and tight. Should I get in there? Our other goat(her sister) was much faster than this, and didn't need any help at all.

She is rather unfriendly, so my hubby will have to hold her for me to check. But I wanted advice, should I let her keep going, or see if there's a tangle? How long can the babies stay alive in there during labor. I don't think the bag has popped yet. She doesn't push but three times each cycle of contractions.

Advice???

 

[terrilhb]

I don't know the answer but I would put this in the Emergency section. If I am wrong I am sorry.

 

[Pearce Pastures]

That seems like a long time to be in active labor but I am not recommending assistance. I would put a call in to a vet to give them a heads up that you may need help. If the kid starts to present incorrectly, you might need to reposition it or have the vet try. I also say emergency section would be good.

 

[paynemom]

Do you usually wait for a kid to present to start thinking of repositioning?

 

[babsbag]

I am no pro, and I am a big chicken, but I KNOW that my friend would be in there by now and checking for a nose, an ear, a foot, or something to identify the position of the kid. Conctractions with no presentation is one of the times she says to call her. 6 hours in labor might not be that long, but mine don't push for long before they present at least the bubble.

The doe getting up and down and pawing MAY be an indication that she is trying to reposition the kid. They know when they need help.

I would call a vet too, as I stated, I am a big chicken and once I do go in I have little clue as to what I am feeling.

There are others on here with a lot of experience. Hopefully they will see this post.

 

[manybirds]

just make sure not to pull on the goo rope and dont pop the placenta sac thingy inside of her, it could cause her an infection. i would be kind of nervous to stick my hand up a little pygmy! the doe i had get her kid stuck had her first 2 and got the last one stuck.she was pacing around pawing getting up laying down and pushing, the bubble kept coming and then disappearing. after and hour or two the pushes became weeker and i went in. i don't know in your situation, i owuld NOT go in unless the bubble had shown itself and within an hour after that there was no baby appearing

 

[paynemom]

Ok, she doesn't seem too distressed, so I think we will wait and watch for progress. So far, since 9 am, no progress at all. Only pushing every 10 minutes or so now. We'll wait for the bubble to show up, or if she seems worn out. I wish she would drink, it's 100 degrees out here!

Thanks for everyones help.

 

[GLENMAR]

Good Luck

 

[paynemom]

Bad news...baby(buckling) was dead and positioned with a back foot and head. It took an hour and a half and a lot of effort to get the poor thing out. Was super big and SO stuck in the pelvic bones. We couldn't even get our hands past the head to grab the other legs. I never saw the bubble, probably because she had popped it on her own early this morning before I saw her. All that goo was the baby's fluid. I think it died early this morning, but even if we had interveined earlier, we still couldn't have loosened it without major trauma. We are hoping Molly will be ok tomorrow, but with all that tugging and pushing, I don't think there's much chance. She was a $30 goat, so my hubby ruled out taking her to the vet, unfortunately. But practically I can understand. Our goats are really only for weed eating. I had an experienced goat person on the phone, and she was surprised she lived so long trying to push a baby out in that position. So discouraged...

 

[greybeard]

Well, this kind of thing happens--just no other way to put it, and as discouragng as it may be, there will be other times where everything goes exactly perfect and it will kinda make up for today's misfortune. Hopefully, Molly goat will be fine--goats are pretty resilent from what little I've seen of them . I'm not a goat person, so I would be way out of line to offer any care giving advise, but we will all hope things look brighter tommorrow.