I am a wimp and traveling the first week of April, so I made arrangements for Cora to foal out at my vet’s. They have many more resources and will place a FoalAlert, etc. I just hope she waits for me to be home so I can be there! Vet is 10 minutes from me. She is due mid April, but I guess could go any time in April.
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Quick follow up question, if my strips only go as low as 6.2, do you think it will still be yellow even though there won’t be a match on the chart?
Yes. My strips were just like yours, 6.2 was lowest and a golden yellow color. If pH gets below 6.2 it will look canary yellow with no golden tone.
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Definitely!
This was my mare’s milk sample last year, about 6 hours prior to when she foaled. These strips also only went down to 6.2.
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So, if she stays at the peachy color, I’m probably ok to sleep don’t you think?
With most mares, probably.
This was the same mare less than 24 hours prior to foaling:
Some of them go very, very fast. So you’d probably be safe to sleep if she hasn’t changed…but I personally wouldn’t be able to. Especially with a maiden! I’m paranoid, though, and even if I went to bed, I’d not likely get much sleep. Lol.
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I have her on the baby monitor and I check her every hour/hour 1/2. I’m a bad sleeper anyways but this makes it WAY worse.
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Holding steady.
I decided I could sleep with only a couple checks of the baby monitor since she was at the third night with the same test results with no foal.
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Most maidens are also pretty dramatic about the foaling process and show signs (restless, pawing, not eating, uncomfortable) for hours before they foal. Tiz A Mystery was typically very quiet in her stall, munching hay, curled up to sleep, or resting peacefully. The night she foaled, she didn’t finish her food, paced and walked circles from 8pm until she foaled at 5am. So it was a no-brainer to stay up watching her on camera.
The older mares who have had many foals are the sneaky ones… quietly eating hay until they feel Baby Time, they walk 2 circles, lay down and spit them out in ten minutes.
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Yeah, this is what I’ve decided. She’s the type that if she has any kind of belly ache, she lifts her top lip and paws. I’m counting on that being one of the first signs. She definitely isn’t a stoic sort. I think I’m going to see it coming a mile away. 
We’ve, got a fairly sunny warm week coming up and I’m hoping that she thinks it’s a good time to lighten her load. 
I’ll keep you posted.
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Since everyone loves pics, here’s a few!
My DD & I went out to visit Raven, my mare’s 2022 filly, over the weekend. She is the epitome of the “hairy yakling” that ppl love to hide behind the shed, lol. At almost 10 months old, I eyeballed her at around 13.3hh in front and around 14.1-14.2hh at the butt. Still a total snuggle bug, she just stood quietly while we loved on her the whole time. 
Meanwhile, her mom is 8.5 months along and still barely looking pregnant, lol. Dunno where she hides them! 
Photo is a couple weeks old now…
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Yesterday morning, she had the foal.
When I went out, it was normal two feet sticking out, it wasn’t until his head started coming out that I saw the placenta.
New Bolton Center thinks it was an unusual red bag presentation. They think he broke though the placenta inside her so it was not presenting like a red bag.
We rushed him to NBC thinking he was just a dummy that could get treatment, I rode with him in the trailer and I’m pretty sure that’s when we lost him. They tried CPR and all but to no avail.
I’m heartbroken.
Mama seems fine. She didn’t want anything to do with him from the get go. I think she knew.
Kiss your new babies for me. 
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So sorry QM2, that sucks. Hugs.
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So sorry.
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I’m so very sorry for your loss. 
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So sorry for your loss, QM2. That’s heartbreaking.
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I’m so sorry
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