by Heather Lang
Your phone rings and on the other end you hear, “It’s time. She’s in labor!” Excitement rushes through your body. The voice on the other end of the line continues “...but she’s having trouble. You better come quick.” Your heart races and yet stops all at the same time. Devastation sets in as you try to not think the worst. Panic takes over as you try to think clearly as you head out the door. This is real life. This was my true story from this past weekend.
As I was driving back to our farm, I had multiple questions and scenarios going through my head. What kind of troubles? How bad is it? What could I say or do to try to help the situation? What happens if the worst were to happen? I say a quick prayer, “Please God look over us during this difficult time.” I arrive to find that indeed she is in distress. She has labored breathing, very uncomfortable, she’s trying to push but it just wasn’t quite enough. By looking at her eyes you could see how uncomfortable she was. After hours of rubbing her back, getting her up and walking around a bit and just sitting with her to help her if needed, still no changes. I don’t like to see her in pain, so I knew action had to be taken. Medicine was administered to help dilate her more and to ease her pain. Medicine was given so that she didn’t get an infection or get sick at all. Still no change. Assistance in delivery was necessary. Things don’t always go as planned. Things don’t always go the way you want them to. That’s life.
You see, this labor is of a gilt (female pig that has not given birth before). Gilts tend to have a bit more complicated births than sows (female pigs that have given birth-farrowed- before). Their hips don’t tend to be as wide which makes it harder for them to push the piglets out themselves, plus they might have a harder time pushing in general. This pig, Diana, was my oldest child’s show pig this past summer and he was planning on showing one of her piglets this year. Diana is now part of his herd and her piglets would also be part of his herd. Diana’s caretakers happened to be myself and my husband. I was at a family gathering in the nearby “big city” where we had family from Wisconsin, Chicago and all over North Dakota.
But when you get that phone call, you drop everything else and go tend to the livestock. It’s almost a given that if you have something planned or if it’s severely cold and a blizzard that’s when the livestock decide it would be a fine time to deliver. We administered the medicine, we did everything possible to make it so that she could deliver the piglets on her own, but it just wasn’t working. She needed additional assistance. We had two options: 1. Perform a C-section risking her life and all the piglets’ lives (very risky procedure) or 2. Pulling the piglets out hoping to save at least a few of the piglets and the mom’s life. Keep in mind we have no idea how many piglets are inside of her and are any of them still alive? We had to find out and, in our mind, there was only one viable option.
I removed my coat, slid my hand into the shoulder length glove, lathered up my hand and arm with lube. Cupping my hand, I slowly slid my arm inside of her feeling for a piglet so I could pull it out. This is a scary and remarkable feeling. I always become overwhelmed with emotions when assisting in a delivery: scared that I might not do it right, terrified to mess up. But I know I have to throw those fears to the back of my mind and do what needs to be done to try to save as many pigs as I can. It’s a slow, yet fast-paced process. You don’t want to tear the mom or enter as she’s having contractions, but you also want to get those piglets out as fast as possible because if you don’t the greater the chance of them not surviving. Emotions of joy and relief stream through my body and I feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment when a piglet is successfully delivered.
After all was said and done, Diana had four piglets, two live births plus we saved her. Not the best outcome, but certainly not the worst either. We saved piglets and the mom. That’s a win. Things don’t always go as planned. Things don’t always go the way you want them to, that’s livestock.
