Back to the Waiting Game

With five crias on the ground and pronging around the pasture we are back to playing the waiting game for cria number six.

Our special alpaca TeQueely (see her story on the blog entry for December 6, 2007 ) is due to delivery any day now, as I write this blog entry she is sitting in the pasture showing a little discomfort and definite puffiness under the tail.  It’s a little late in the day for a cria to be born (it is close to 4 p.m. as I am writing), but not unheard of.    I can see a lot of movement at the base of TeQueely’s tail as if the cria is stretching out its legs one last time before making his or her appearance.  Quite often when you see that much activity under the dams tail the cria will be born in the next day or so.

My suspicion is that TeQueely is in the very early stages of labor.  Often those very early stages are unobserved and the alpaca will continue to eat and move around the pasture looking quite normal.  Sometimes those early stages will occur overnight when most of us humans are not taking a stroll around the pasture. 

It would not surprise me if we get up tomorrow morning (or this morning to those reading this blog entry when it posts) to find TeQueely with a cria by her side.   We have a frontal system moving into the area this afternoon and the change in pressure can often trigger a birth not only in alpacas but also in humans.

For now I will keep TeQueely under observation and will check on her late into the night.  I would rather lose a few hours sleep than miss an alpaca having a problem delivery.  In all probability though TeQueely will deliver her cria just fine and we will have something extra to celebrate on July 4, Independence Day.

Until then it’s back to the waiting game!

Rosemary