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Lacy 10 month update (last before her foaling thread!)!

accphotography February 22, 2011 February 22, 2011

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Lacy is 303 days today and had her 10 month checkup. She got all her annual boosters plus her last rota-virus and tetanus. An external ultrasound was done both for fun and as one final look at the foal's vitals and the placenta. The vet said everything looked good from what she could see. There's only so much that can be seen late term like this due to the foal's size. Baby was very active as usual and hard to follow so we didn't get to see many different things but it was still interesting. We got a photo of the chest and supposedly the heart (which I saw on the screen but is almost invisible on the US printout) and a photo showing the uterus, placenta, a huge hippomane the allantois and allantoic fluid. The only hitch in the whole visit was the vet finding some "placental folding and wrinkling". On the ultrasound the wrinkling just looked like areas where the placenta was wavy against the uterus as opposed to being in a smooth line with the uterine wall. The placental folding was most prominent in one spot where I could distinctly see part of the placenta had folded over onto itself creating almost a loop appearance. Even in this are the placenta looked tight to the uterine wall to my eyes, but my eyes are anything but trained in ultrasonography. The vet said this is not common, but not unusual either and she only gets concerned about it if she sees alot and she didn't consider what she saw alot. She did qualify that she could not see the top side of the placenta without doing a trans-rectal ultrasound but that she did not feel anything she saw warranted that level of invasiveness and to just watch her for anything out of the ordinary and we would check her again if anything seemed off. The areas where the placenta was smoothly attached to the uterus were of normal thickness so she was not concerned about placentitis. I've done some reading about this condition as I'd never heard of it before today and it seems some feel it is minor and a non issue and some feel it can be a serious threat. However those that I've read that consider it serious show photos of ultrasounds with FAAAR more folding than we found today. I trust this vet and if she is confident things are well for the moment than I am too, but I will continue keeping a close watch on her in the event she does begin to show signs of trouble. Her udder is enlarging at a pretty quick rate (IMO) and the vet says it's about where it should be for her stage. She has also developed a fair amount of edema along her underline (primarily in front and to the sides of her udder and to the sides of her umbilical ridge where it is hard and about the size of a goose egg... without sticking out that much obviously) in the past two days. She seems to be very tired and a bit sappy. She's cut herself back on hay by a fair bit and probably as a result has lost some weight. We all agree that her weight is probably right where it should be given that she will be nursing soon. She has shed a shocking amount of hair already for this time of year and I'm guessing in part a result of hormones and in part a result of this wacky winter we're having. The vet and I spent a long time discussing what to do and not do, when to call and when not to call, what to use and what not to use, what to have on hand, etc. I think we covered most of the bases I had any questions about. I nearly completed my foaling kit today with the following: Sterile gloves Sterile lubricant Navel clamp Navel dipping cup Chlorhexidine (for navel dipping) Banamine Thermometer Fleet Enema Ivermectin dewormer (actually EquiMax which is both Ivermectin and Praziquantel) To be added to the foaling kit hopefully tomorrow: Foal halter (leather) Towels Flashlight Vetrap Cotton, gauze and saline solution (just in case) Pool strips Distilled water Can anyone think of anything else I might need? We took some photos at 300 days which I will post below. We also got two ultrasound photos also below. The whole album can be found here: http://www.accphotography.com/gallery/photos/lacy/lace022011/ Here's a few choice photos from that ^ shoot: [IMG]http://www.accphotography.com/gallery/download/33486-3/IMG_1990.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.accphotography.com/gallery/download/33491-3/IMG_2027.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.accphotography.com/gallery/download/33494-3/IMG_2019.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.accphotography.com/gallery/download/33504-3/IMG_2146.jpg[/IMG] A wet photo to show you just how much weight she's lost (she has a fair bit of fluff in the above photos as it was chilly): [IMG]http://www.accphotography.com/gallery/download/33516-3/IMG_1860.jpg[/IMG] A shot of her [COLOR=Red]girly bits[/COLOR] so posting link only (for future comparison): http://www.accphotography.com/gallery/download/33514-3/IMG_2139.jpg Her dapples dry funny: [IMG]http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss298/accmobile/IMAG0273.jpg[/IMG] Just a cool shot showing her dapples and her dorsal from tip to tip LOL (sorry for the blur it was my camera and dark in there): [IMG]http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss298/accmobile/IMAG0282.jpg[/IMG] And how about some udder photos? January 28th: [IMG]http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss298/accmobile/IMAG0142.jpg[/IMG] February 20th: [IMG]http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss298/accmobile/IMAG0278.jpg[/IMG] January 28th: [IMG]http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss298/accmobile/IMAG0143.jpg[/IMG] February 20th: [IMG]http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss298/accmobile/IMAG0279.jpg[/IMG] And here are your ultrasound photos: Chest and heart (which is not really visible on the printout sadly but it was very cool to see as this is the first time it's been large enough to see the chambers within the heart): [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/accphotography/Lace/Pregnancy/DS…] The ever so cool shot showing the placenta, hippomane, allantois and allantoic fluid: [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/accphotography/Lace/Pregnancy/DS…] Of course as most of you know she is on cam at this address: http://www.marestare.com/fcam.php?alias=paintedpurple She will be in at night and out during the day until I feel she is very close or that it is no longer safe for her to be in the herd (she's not at the top of the totem pole sadly). The cam will be off during the day when she's out and probably on most evenings. So you should be able to see her from 5:30pm to 5:30am but I may turn it off some evenings if nothing is going on to save on bandwidth. We are limited and it is costing us quite a bit so we have to make it work. I'm not sure how we're going to cover her and the foal in the field during the days like I originally planned but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Ok I think that's all I have for now, though that is QUITE a bit. :D We're 17 days to safe zone and 37 days from her "due date" of 340 days. Go Lace!!!

rodeoratdogs Thu, 02/24/2011 - 09:11

I'd say your prepared, love the leather baby halter, how tall is Lacey and how tall is the sire, he's pretty tall isn't he?

rodeoratdogs Thu, 02/24/2011 - 11:37

Oh I didn't know Lacey was that short she looks 15h in her photos, but it's hard to tell from that, the foal should be a nice size. I like my horses around 15h myself, but I'm perfectly comfy on a shorter horse because I'm short.

Monsterpony Thu, 02/24/2011 - 12:47

The only thing I can think of for the foaling kit is to make sure that the chlorhexidine you have is the scrub and not the disinfectant. You also want to have it diluted down to 0.05% (pale, pale blue). Most forms come in a 2% concentration; that is too strong for a dip and would cause some serious irritation. Mix 1 mL of the 2% with 39 mL water to get ~0.05%.

accphotography Thu, 02/24/2011 - 19:11

It's a pH and calcium test (well it tests 6 things but those are the two I'm interested in). Have you never heard of testing a mare's milk in order to predict foaling?

Monsterpony Thu, 02/24/2011 - 19:33

[quote=accphotography]It's neither? It's "chlorhexidine [b]solution[/b]" 2%.[/quote]

Ok, that's fine. Just make sure it isn't the scented disinfectant. I've had two instances in the last couple weeks of feed stores selling the disinfectant (which is for surface cleaning and not for topical use) and telling people to use it as the scrub or solution. The same dilution factor should work.

Krickette Thu, 02/24/2011 - 19:41

No, actually, I've never heard of that! The only predicting we ever did in breeding was measuring Abby's temperature before she had her puppies. With Mist we just had a camera hooked up to a TV in mom's room and I kept waking up every few hours and checking on her. We pretty much knew that it was going to be that night. I kept freaking out and Mom kept telling me to go back to sleep haha. I was out there franticly waiting for hours and mom walked out cool as a cucumber about 10 minutes before she finally started foaling.

accphotography Thu, 02/24/2011 - 20:44

In mare (MOST of them anyway) their milk will be much lower in pH and much higher in calcium right before they foal. With most mares the birth can be predicted within 6-24 hours if the test results fall within a certain range.

critterkeeper Fri, 02/25/2011 - 10:25

I am starting to go blind watching all my "web friends" mares....thank heaven I have Matt and Ben to watch mine ;P

Threnody Sat, 02/26/2011 - 10:38

Really hoping I don't miss the event. I'm going to have the cam page up all the time as the due date gets closer. ^_^

accphotography Sat, 02/26/2011 - 14:28

Threnody I can put you on a text message list if you like. Or as she gets closer be sure to have the MS Barn Alarm up, etc.

Hey What The Sat, 02/26/2011 - 16:33

She's just beautiful ACC - I know it's probably already on here somewhere but I can't find it so I have to ask lol who is the dad? and another question, what happened to her ear?

critterkeeper Tue, 03/01/2011 - 21:28

That is a very active baby (have you reinforced her stall? :D I have a feeling she will be as anxious to deliver that rambumbuncous babe as you are for her to deliver. :tired:

Seeing as her baby bump is still rounded, I'd say you still have a week or so...minimum. Once that belly forms a deep-V then the countdown is really on! :)

accphotography Wed, 03/02/2011 - 13:28

Oh and I was thinking, with her being a muscular, athletic maiden she may very well not V at all.

Yeah it is exciting. 9 days to safe zone. Can't wait!

Krickette Tue, 03/08/2011 - 11:38

Last night i dreamed Lacey foaled all of a sudden and i missed it. All that got posted was this screenshot of the camera, but at a weird angle, of Lacy standing with a foal asleep at her feet. Which was strange. ACC hadnt posted anythinf about it yet, so i didnt believe it but there was the picture... I couldnt tell markings because it was laying the wrong direction, but i remember it was the darkest palomino, like almost muddy mame and tail with dark chocolate body. It was really strange...