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"Layla"
Born March 25, 2008 at 10:22am to Bonnie
Spotted Saddle Horse / Registered Racking Horse
Videos
(sorry folks, on slower connections these will take some time to
load)
Pictures are located below the blog on this page
Newborn baby
Learning to Stand for First Time
Hi Mommy
Learning to Walk
First Time Eating
March 27th,
7:24pm: Okay folks, got the photos and videos of Layla uploaded, just
click HERE to see the little lady. She sure is a spunky
little thing!
March 26th,
9:55am: Wow, what a day yesterday. I guess I'm an OB doctor now, huh?
Cutting the umbilical, peeling the afterbirth off...ewwww.... Layla is
doing great and I think a lot of you are watching her and even saw her during
the birth and certainly afterwards. For many I know this is the first for seeing
all of that - did you see how quickly she goes from a wobbly little thing,
standing with her legs spread out to steady her to walking circles around mom by
afternoon? Amazing isn't it? The really cool thing was that Windchill's entire
care team was back at the same stall he was in smiling and watching the new
baby. It truly was the complete circle of life and I think it was good for all
of us. The last time we were all together in that exact same stall it wasn't a
happy time, as the care team lifted Windchill for one last time and loaded him
in the trailer for his last ride. Now here we all were beaming at the baby! And
Gary Niemi resumed his role as our official farm engineer as he worked out the
details for the heating lamp and used his height for official farm business!
As Bonnie was about to deliver, I raced back to the farm and quickly posted the
links of the now functional webcams. I was coming back from an early AM meeting
in Duluth and during that time Compudyne was working to get the webservers going
- Ryan called and fed me play by play as I raced like a scalded dog back to the
farm. One of the flurry of emails I dashed out was to the Dalbecs - Lori was
online and raced over as soon as she got it. She arrived shortly after I had cut
the umbilical and bagged up the afterbirth while Kathi watched overhead via
webcam and fed me things to watch for. Technology really kicked in and helped.
After towel drying the baby, we decided to cover her with a blanket - can you
guess which blanket we decided to use? Yup, Windchill's favorite red one. It
seemed appropriate, though I admit I had to pause for a moment. I've avoided
looking at that stuff because those types of things make my heart rain again.
BUT...having a baby born in the same stall gave it a new association so I
figured it would help with the blanket as well. And right as she laid the
blanket on the newborn baby, Layla decided she wanted up and spent the rest of
the time trying to stand. I'm not going to go so far as to attribute magical
powers to a blanket, I will just say it was quite amazing that she decided at
that moment to make her stand - and did. (You cynical types can explain it to
yourselves as perhaps she didn't want the warmth of the blanket so decided to
stand at that point -- as for the rest of us who believe, we know the real
answer).
Although I didn't know it, I guess Layla is the answer to an outstanding
question my heart had - she helps fill a void I've had from losing Windchill, a
void in that stall where I could still see Windchill spinning himself around in
circles in there each time I looked, and a void in my own heart. And she's
helping bring back my smile. I guess I sorta missed it but don't tell anyone
that, it implies caring and crap like that and I don't want that getting out.
 March 25th,
2:04pm: Welcome to the world Layla! Born this morning, mom (Bonnie) and
daughter are doing GREAT! I think quite a few got the chance to see a baby born,
or at least see her immediately afterwards - Compudyne called me as I was
driving home to let me know they got the web server going this morning and their
tech, Ryan, kept me updated on my cellphone as I raced for home to be onsite for
the birth. Layla is an absolute sweetie, very affectionate for a newborn. The
webcam below will be kept up and running so you can all see her live and keep
tabs on her as well as the archive photos. Way to go Bonnie!
March 25th, 10:22am: BONNIE IS HAVING HER BABY RIGHT NOW!
HERE'S THE LINK TO WATCH THE STALL:
RAINDANCE BARN FOALING STALL
(NURSERY)
March 25th, 7:21m: Morning folks - a night of watching the barn
cam led to very little sleep - Bonnie is SOOOO ready to foal it isn't even
funny. We're keeping her in the foaling stall now. Unfortunately, Compudyne, the
computer company I told you was putting in barn cams, has not been back to help
set up the web server portion of the webcams so we can only view the barn cams
from the farm itself. Been trying to get them moving on this so you could watch
the baby be born as well and be an extra set of eyes over our shoulders. That
means at this point one of us needs to be here pretty much all the time. Good
thing fulltime employment isn't important to my being able to continue to retain
this farm...groan.
I've had my girls this weekend which has been great. While I had pneumonia I
wasn't able to have them over so that meant I didn't get to see them for quite
awhile. They've been vigilantly watching the barn cam and the front pen when
Bonnie's been out there for any signs of labor and then quickly calling me on my
cell yesterday while I was bringing the horse trailer in for more repairs and
pre-season checks. So any moment now, Bonnie will be a mommy! She is definitely
ready to go, has all the signs.
  
  
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