Getting born: A How To

After watching on the foalcam long enough to be sure, I got to Xans stall in time to see this. Check out the look on her face.
As soon as I arrived, she got up--see baby's foot sticking out next to her tail?
A lot of fluid had gushed out by this time---see foot sticking out further? The second foot is out and pointing down. The next thing that we should see is a nose.

This is a TERRIBLE place to foal. In the corner. I normally would have left her more alone, but I had to take pics for you people, and I wanted to be able to move her if need be. See those long legs? His nose is out too--half his head probably.
See what a bad place this is to foal?
You can see WHY this is a bad place to foal--he is almost all the way out and piling up on himself. I have an arrow pointing to his face. I was not sure he was okay, being born like that, so I interfered to check--something I try to not do. I broke the bag to make sure he was breathing. He was fine.

All that activity was enough to make her get up and give him some space. She did good staying close by at first so that the cord did not break too fast.

It cracks me up how they always look so surprised to get born. Especially sorrel babies, as they are quite often really light around the eyes--it makes them look shocked. In this photo, his little baby ears are just starting to pop up. They will look huge at first, but Slybabies have GREAT ears, and they will end up small and hooked and perfect. At least almost all of them have so far.
Check out those whiskers. They were all full of dirt by them. We argued over the Seramune I gave him, so a lot got on his face, and that helped collect bedding on him.
This is his first attempt to get up. One of the funniest things about babies is how clumsy they are the first few hours. It took many more attempts before he was all the way up.
This was the aftermath of that first attempt. He looks like a camel but those long legs are hard to master. He ended up running headfirst into this wall. More than once. Sometimes he would bounce off and all four legs would end up in the air.
He is starting to really unfold here. I ended up turning him around so he would quit hitting the wall with his forehead. The last thing I need is a brain-damaged colt.
He still does not have the hang of his legs yet in this shot. Look how big he is!
Xan is very serious about teaching her babies where the taps are. She would shove him right back to where he needed to be and she would spin him around.
He got goosed more than once in the process.
He had a very strong reflex from the start--that is a great thing to see. Sometimes they do not get very interested until they have been up a while and then they get too tired to get anything done. That was not an issue with this one--he knew what to do with that mouth--if only he could find where he was supposed to be.
Mmm mmm good. This is the most satisfying part for me--knowing he is nursing and that all systems are go. It also helps her pass the afterbirth which was giving her some trouble last nite
This is the young man this morning at about 11 hours. Amazing how fast they change isn't it? Keep an eye on him over the next few days and you will be amazed at how the shape of his head changes from a rectangular block to a pretty little dished face with a lot of shape. Also notice how much more filled out he is after eating and drying off.
Look at those eyelashes. People ask me how I do this, how I get through the sleepless nights, and the heartbreak when something goes wrong. That is how. Just look at that face.

I think his name is BamBam---Bree suggested it, since he got born so fast--BAM!