A Bad Monday

There are Mondays and then there are Mondays like yesterday that just start off bad.  If you follow me on Facebook, you know that yesterday was a Monday in every since of the word.

I awoke with a horrible sinus headache...one that pounded my head with every step I took.  I must have looked real bad, because my awesome hubby said I could stay home and his dad would help feed.  Yeah, I had to look real bad, because I've tried to call in sick and it hardly ever works.  Anyway, I was staring at my computer when the phone rang an hour later to tell me we had a cow with a uterine prolapse.

These are never good we all prefer when things go according to "the plan".  Often, the cow goes into shock and dies before we find them.  If we can help them get things put back in place and treat the shock, we have a chance at least. 

The calf was HUGE!  The guys guessed it weighed 120 pounds at least.  She amazingly had him by herself, but things didn't stop pushing when she got the calf out and out popped her uterus, too.  Not good.  

It was probably a good thing at the time that she was partially paralyzed at this point.  We've seen cows have way more hanging out and running around the pasture.  That is no good as they rip their uterus.  I snapped this picture after I administered drugs prescribed by the vet to help with the shock. He was pretty sure she may have been dead before he got there had I not given her the drugs.

The guys got her rolled up on her belly, so gravity would work for them putting things back into place.  Usually, I am in my father in law's position and not able to take pictures.  Usually, these happen at 11:00 at night or 2:00 am in the sleet and rain and snow.  But I digress.  The feed sacks are important!  As the vet got things cleaned up best he could, I slipped the bags underneath, so the uterus had something cleaner than the ground to rest on.

As he started pushing we saw something that none of us liked.  She had torn a whole in her uterus that A LOT of blood was coming from.  (She did pick one of the few brushy spots to have her calf in and we guessed that one of the broken shoots caused the tear.)  The vet had to stop for a minute and attempt to sew that spot closed and we hoped for the best.  They continued to push and push and finally "the basketball sized mass went into the softball sized hole."

To keep things from falling back out, he put some big ol' stitches across her...well you can see where.  These obviously aren't dissolvable stitches.

We took the rope off of her and let her rest and prayed she would make it.

My husband took a tractor and loader back up to the pasture to let her stand up.  Dairy Carrie has talked about doing this in her post Sometimes We are Mean to Our Cows.    She is paralyzed on her back legs, but is trying to stand which is great news.  A 1100 pound cow that doesn't want to try isn't going to make it.  We also gave her some antibiotics, Vitamin K to help with blood clotting and some injectable minerals to help with healing.

Then I had to tend to a calf who's mama was in no condition to feed him.  In fact, she didn't even clean him up very well.  I gave him a bottle of colostrum replacer.  Colostrum is the first milk a mom produces after giving birth.  It is full of antibodies that help the calf develop it's own immune system, but it needs to be fed within 6 hours of birth.  The gut lining starts to close to antibodies after 6 hours.

I  gave him a bottle and had the guys help me get him in the barn.  He didn't really want to stand up and my head was back to pounding at this point, so I let him be.

When the boys got home from school, I told them that they were in charge of feeding the calf.  That's when they noticed his tendons were bending his feet back.  Poor calf was running out of room inside mama and was crunched anywhere he could be.  We splinted his legs to straighten them and will leave those on just a couple of days.

His eyes are also incredibly blood shot after the difficult birth.  I am guessing that he was at least 2 weeks over due!

To give you an idea of just how big this calf is, my husband is 6 foot 3.  Those little 60 pound calves make standing up look easy.  Apparently, it is harder when you are trying to coordinate 120 pounds of bulk.

So, how was your Monday?  Do you feel better about it?  I know I didn't think my sinus infection was quite as bad as I originally thought it was after helping with these two!  Now, I am off to see how everyone is dong and praying I don't have to have the talk about All Living Things Die.
-A Kansas Farm Mom

From One Farm Mom to A Farm Mom To Be

Two of my best blogger friends are expecting!!  I thought it only fitting that I send them a bit of advice.  I asked several other farm moms to join in the advice, so be sure to check out all of their blogs, too.  My friend Jenny over at The Magic Farmhouse also has some advice for them, be sure to check it out!

Dear Carrie and Taysha,

Congratulations on your exciting news!!  I am so ecstatic that you will be joining us in the exclusive group knows as Farm Moms.  There are some things I feel I should tell you that won’t be in any book.  Some women think pregnancy is the best thing in the world, and others (like me) feel that carrying a baby is something that is trying to kill them from the inside.  I promise you the 9 months is totally worth it in the end.   

1.  Your digestive tract is no longer your friend.  Foods you once loved will try to kill you.  For Jodi, it was BBQ.  Katie of Illinois Farmgirl fame told me, "Joe's Special Pizza became my go-to-food with my 1st; and to this day, that pizza is so good to me.  With my 2nd, I couldn't stomach sweets.  Nothing.  No candy, cookies, cake, pie, anything sugary was off-limits.  Bacon, however, calmed a queasy stomach."  For me, it was white bread and potatoes.  It is always totally random as to what will try to kill you, we hear for Carrie that it is bacon...(Katie look out Carrie may hate you when she read this).  While not eating bacon for 9 months sounds horrible, at least it isn’t cheese.  You both live in the cheese meccas of America! 

2.  Your digestive tract will slow down.  (I know I seem to talk a lot about digestion, but this is serious.)  I assume this is to gather every nutrient possible out of the food you eat for that little miracle you are growing.  Eat LOTS of fiber.  Eat lots of fruits and vegetables.   Learn to love prune juice (until your bundle arrives and you are nursing which causes bad things to arrive in the diapers, but I digress and that is a post for another day.)  Seriously, follow my advice or you may find yourself in the fetal position on the bathroom floor saying “if childbirth hurts like this we are only having ONE child…IF I live through this.”

3.  Melinda of Farm Living is My Life has this digestive advice for you: "Digestion issue #3 is when your metabolism changes due to 2 pregnancies in 2 years therefore giving you a gall bladder full of stones. And your doctor telling you it's just false labor pains when you're actually passing said stones makes you consider taking the bander to your next appointment and teaching him what it really feels like."

4.  Emotions are no longer something you can control.  I was that girl that could sit stone faced through the saddest movie, even Eight Seconds and not shed a tear.  This is not something that ends when the pregnancy ends, even now I find myself just talking to DebbieLyons-Blythe about her son brings me tears flowing down my face.  While it is embarrassing to become that blubbering woman with mascara running down your face, every single mom in the room understands and will tell you they have been there.  Just stop with the eye makeup now.  Once the kid arrives you will be too tired to put it on anyway.  Katie still cries at Hallmark commercials, and can't watch Law & Order: SVU anymore. 

5.  You are no longer in charge.  Yes, as the parent you may think you are, but from now until the day you die every decision you make will somehow include #dairybaby or #babyspartan.  Your multiple nightly trips to the bathroom are only the beginning of schedule changes for you that you can’t control.  My parents advice to parents to be is always the terrible 2’s and horrible 4’s are bad, but wait until they get to…(whatever age I am at).    I swear they still make decisions based on what we or the grandkids want or need.  
 

6.  You will start thinking more about show cows and breeding a family of cows to produce show heifers.  We all do it.  Don’t be ashamed.  Take my advice and start now or buy a decent heifer now to breed up.  We didn’t start soon enough and buying good show heifers in this market is expensive.  The good thing about social media is that you can find friends with those animals.  Just ask Bastian Show Calves. 

7.  The guys and your mother in law on the farm may decide this pregnancy or birth has made you disabled.  TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!!  I didn’t.  I weighed and sorted steers when I was 34 weeks pregnant with my oldest son and then I learned what HELLP stands for and met my son at 35 weeks and 2 days instead of 40 weeks.  Like it or not, the guys that work with us can tell when we are getting tired and don’t feel well before we do.  You will HATE being sent to the house to rest, but DO IT!  Melinda on the other hand offers this advice, "And when the doctor suggests bedrest when you're 39 weeks pregnant, walking the pasture checking for fall calves and driving the old 4010 John Deere for harvest probably isn't what they consider "bed rest". It's best not to tell the nurse what you've been up to when she calls to check up on you. Just say you were sleeping and missed the call."

8.  Find a good kids and maternity clothing store.  In our area, it is Heaven’s Angels.  Let’s be honest here, we live on farms.  Every outfit does not have to be brand new and super adorable.  S#@T happens.  Mud puddles happen.   Let the grandmas, aunts and friends buy the cute clothes.  Go straight to the red tag racks for maternity and baby clothes.  I guarantee there will be days when you will hose the kid off before you go to the house and there will be days when you don’t even consider putting the clothes in the washer and they go straight in the trash.

9.  My friend Tracy aka Nebraska Wheatie shared some great pregnancy advice for those few that get severely ill while pregnant.  If you have ever felt like this: "Sleep was the only thing that would provide me with temporary relief. I remember thinking how much I dreaded nighttime because that meant another day of being sick was what I had to look forward to."  You might want to read about Hyperemesis Gravidarum.

10. Melinda had another bit of advice: "If you take childbirth class, be prepared to have your husband ask if the forceps are similar to chains and if they are, how do hook the jack on? Trust me, the instructor will consider kicking you out of the class at this point."  But in all seriousness, do pay attention to the deep breathing exercises, they do come in handy when you get injured on the farm.  I used them when we dropped the squeeze chute on my big toe, the gate got kicked back at my head and required stitches and I am pretty sure The Farmer used them when a cow hit him when trying to tag her calf.  

11. Just in case you were wondering...even though you have see cows do it thousands of times, I did NOT crave eating my afterbirth nor did I have the urge to lick my baby to clean him off.

12.  While some of your friends have thought the birth of their child is reason to have a party...in the delivery room, it is perfectly acceptable to be like a beef cow and go have the baby in privacy with hubs and the doctors and let everyone know later.

13.  I guarantee you will have a new found sympathy for cows with mastitis.  Want your hubs to know what it feels like?  Have him run over by a Mack Truck.  Seriously, the sickest I have ever felt.  Now, cows with mastitis get lots of extra care, special feed and extra bedding along with their antibiotics.

14.  You milk production will be a topic of family discussion.  Don't believe me?  My GrandPA called to see how my milk production was doing before my son was a week old.  He and my grandmother (who died 1 week after my son was born) offered the advice to drink a beer if I needed to "let down" more milk.  Seriously, I wouldn't make this stuff up.  

15. The best advice from Katie, "that I wish first time moms-to-be could hear, but understand why they don't (because I didn't hear it) . . ."

Love you both!  Can't wait to meet your bundles of joy!  I am only a phone call away if you need unsolicited advice. ;)  I am off to work on your designer AgTastic Baby Wear.

A Kansas Farm Mom

Now to my readers other than Carrie and Taysha:
What did I miss?  What other advice do you have for Farm Moms to be?

DIY- More Agtastic Baby Gifts

Here lately in my circle of Ag Blogger friends I am feeling like the "old fart."  It seems every time I turn on Facebook there is another announcement of a due date.  I am so excited for my friends and am ready to welcome them into the amazing and sometimes crazy world of motherhood.  A few that are expecting or recently had babies are:

• Jodi of My Cousin is Vegan
•  Sarah of The House that Ag Built
• Amanda of Beef Daily
• Amber of A Gentle Word
• Jude of BoviDiva fame

I made some cute ag themed onesies for my cousin a few months back and shared them with you, but for my friends that LOVE agriculture, I had to change them up a little bit and make a totally new one for my pork loving friends.  :)

If you want to receive gifts that are returnable, don't invite me to a shower or wedding.  You can ask Danielle of High Heels and Shotgun Shells after her wedding shower and wedding.  I don't do gift registry or gift cards.  I love Pinterest to find ideas and I like to come up with my own ideas, too.  I LOVE the iron on transfers for your printer.  They make customizable gifts so easy! Like these onesies.

Did you know that 1 farmer feed 155 people?  For the babies that will be proud that their daddy is a farmer or rancher:

Front

Back

This slogan has been around awhile on bibs from different groups.   Of course, my favorite for my rancher friends.

 

If you don't want to make your own, you can order from the Kansas State Collegiate Cattlewomen or the Iowa Beef Industry Council.

My husband's favorite is sure to start a conversation or two.  ;)

If you like this one, I have one I totally messed up on the back and printed upside down.  I can mail it to you. It would be perfect for the kid that likes to hang upside down.

Specially designed for my friend who works for the Kansas Pork Association.  I thought about this one for a long time before I came up with what I thought was a perfect complement to the beef one above that her rancher husband liked.

What other onesies should I make?  What should I make for the older siblings?  What are some of your favorite baby gifts to give?

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Agtastic Baby Gifts

I am a one of a kind gift person.  If I can spend a little extra time and give a gift that they won’t find anywhere else, then that’s what I am going to do.  If you are someone that loves to return gifts, so you can get EXACTLY what you want, don’t put me on your next baby shower guest list.  My cousin Lisa and I co-hosted a shower for our cousin Kim, whose adventures you can follow over on A House Lab.  (If you don't have a lot to do and want to make my pregnant cousins day, click on her page and let her watch her page views climb. )

I love the ink jet iron on transfers.  Have you ever tried these?  One of our cousins teased my boys once that he was jealous that had Thomas the Tank Engine undies.  Guess who made him his own Thomas boxer shorts for Christmas that year?  LOL  Oh, and it is the cousin that currently works for us.

If you have kids with unusual names, like mine and most of their cousins, these are a great way to help them have something personalized.  My boys can’t buy anything at a store that has their name on it unless they order it.

I thought a lot about what to give my cousin for a baby gift.  She lives half way across the country and requested either small gifts or to have the larger gifts shipped to her house. 

I bought a couple of packages of onesies, because I used tons of these.  They are great for layers in the winter and a nice cool complete outfit in the hot summers of Kansas.  But I couldn’t give her plain old onesies.  NOOOO!  So, The Farmer and I brainstormed.

This was my favorite:

Here's what The Farmer cam up with:

 And on the back...

 And one more

We thought of some good ag ones, but she and her hubs graduated from KU.  I got on Twitter to see what Jayhawk fans talk about.  It happened to be the night of the back to school teach their freshman how to cheer pep rally.  I even found a couple of ideas that the Jayhawk fans appreciated. 

Even though my cousin couldn’t read a couple of them without laughing.

What are your favorite baby gifts to give or receive?  I have several friends expecting babies very soon.  I could use some ideas.  What was your favorite of the ones I made?

-A Kansas Farm Mom

Check out the rest of my 30 days of Farm Mom Tips and the other farm bloggers joining me.