Princess Buttercup's Pregnancy Problems, part 1

On Thursday evening, I went out to the pasture to check on Buttercup cow, who was due to calve on the 31st, and I found her stuck!! She was upside down on a hill, with her back on the downhill side and her legs stretched out up hill. Poor girl...being so big and pregnant, she would've never been able to right herself, and could have easily died in such a predicament as that.
I yelled for Ellie to get Mom while pulling on Buttercup's back legs to swing her around. We were able to push Buttercup into an upright position, but she was too weak to stand...in fact, she didn't stand up in her own until yesterday.
That night, our dairy friends came out to treat her for milk fever, and then the next day the vet came out to check her and test her blood. The blood test did show low calcium, which does indicate milk fever, so we have been giving Buttercup CMPK. Among some other things, the vet also gave her a luetalyse shot to induce labor in case she had pregnancy toxemia. Pregnancy toxemia happens when the baby/babies are taking more nutrients than the mother is bringing in and the body becomes toxic...so the babies must come out, or the mother will die. items with detachable pieces to wear of the wedding
We have been taking shifts watching her during the day, and Mom spent the first two nights out there with her. Since she couldn't get up on her own, we wanted to be there to offer her food and water and to make sure she was shaded by the trees or by our canopy we set up. And, we didn't want to leave her in case she did try to stand and ended up in an awkward position.
On Friday a neighbor brought down his tractor and hip lifters to help us lift Buttercup into a standing position. Later we borrowed a different neighbor's backhoe and another dairy friend's hip lifters to get her up. She was very wobbly on her feet, so she didn't stay standing long, but it was good to get her up!!
....to be continued tomorrow....