Foaling (Lottii/Sync)

[Cara]

Cara's five-foot frame stood at the stall door, keenly watching the mare on the other side of the door, but remaining as unobtrusive as possible. She knew that Rain knew she was there, as the mare kept looking toward her before her own discomfort took her attention back to what was happening in her body.

Mr Harman had left to go and summon the barn manager, Miss Jones. Cara really hadn't had the honor of meeting the woman yet, but decided that this would be the best time to meet the manager. She took the small touch screen phone out of her pocket and looked at the time, mentally noting it down as the mare's water broke - the sign that stage one was over.

She glanced down the barn aisle as she took a step back from the door. she knew that this next stage was one that the mare would prefer to do alone, but the girl could still see everything that was happening in the stall should her assistance be needed before either adult arrived back. She slipped the jacket of her shoulders and left it folded neatly on the ground over to the side and out of the way. The yellow shirt had short sleeves and left the girl's arms bare - which also left her scars visible, but they were the least of her worries right now as she returned her complete attention to the mare. She took in everything that happened as she would write about it later.

[Lottii]

Matt knocked lightly on the door of Lauren Jones' office. He hoped she would be in there, her assistance would be rather appreciated right now, what with a slowly growing class and a foaling mare. If she wasn't there he would have to go on a campus-wide hunt looking for her. Glancing down towards where the girl was, he noticed she seemed to be checking something on her phone. Not having her down as the type to check her phone constantly for the hell of it, it occurred that Rain's waters might have just broken. A slight sigh slipped from his mouth, he would wait here another few seconds before assuming she was elsewhere. In fairness, he had only been stood outside the office for a couple of seconds, but time seemed to be dragging.

[Sync]

She was sat in the office scrawling down notes about the mares in the barn. Two new ones had arrived yesterday, she had gone to collect them. Delight had settled in almost instantly, and had already escaped twice. Chuckling slightly, she remembered walking into the barn after taking a couple of mares out to the pasture and seeing her standing there, waiting for her to come back. Maggie, the other mare, hadn't taken to her new home so well. The nervous mare had thankfully been claimed for the equine reproduction class, which was actually supposed to be on now. The quiet female looked down to the left of her desk, seeing Jesse curled up in a tight ball. She smiled fondly at the Norfolk Terrier before writing down a few more concerns about Maggie into her file. Suddenly, Jesse leaped up from where he was lain down, and began to bark sharply. Lauren heard the knock on the office door and stood up instantly. Walking over to open the door, knowing that who ever it was wouldn't be able to hear her over Jesse's barking if she called for him to come in.

Opening the door, she came face to face with the equine vet. Her brow rose in a questioning manner. Wasn't he supposed to be teaching a class? “Can I help you Mr Harman?” she asked, interest marring her thickly accented Welsh vocals. Peering over his shoulder, she saw that there was a girl stood outside Rain's stall. She clued in instantly and squeezed past the man. She knew how nervous Rain was, and the fact that she had already been stressing about her pregnancy, made Lauren want to get to her side. As she got there, she offered a reassuring smile to the girl, before peering inside. It seemed that Rain's waters had broken. Lauren's smile was ecstatic, it meant that she could stop sleeping in her office at least, and the fact that she would finally be able to see how Rain was to be as a mother thrilled the woman. She glanced at the girl again and took her to be Cara, the girl who had been assigned to her for the Equine Reproduction. "No need to worry so much, she'll be fine." The fact that Lauren had seen so many mares go through this, many like Rain herself, Lauren took it all in her stride. "Not long though. Whatcha think, Doc?" she asked Matt, wanting his thoughts. May as well test him to see if he could handle working with her, as he would be seeing a lot of her with the mares she cared for.

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OTHER: Really don't like this...
TAGGED: Cara & Lottii
WORDS: 442
LYRICS: Wonderwall – Oasis
CREDIT: Credit goes to petitfleur@ CAUTION 2.0
do not claim this as your own or demon babies will
hunt you down and eat your entrails for breakfast.
Do not remove this credit.

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[Cara]

Cara stepped back as a woman approached the stall. With the way that the woman spoke, she pinned her as the barn manager. Her eyebrows lifted slightly before a mask fell over her face again. No need to worry so much? She had seen a mare go down this close to the foal being born and the owner losing both of them... but that mare had been worked right through her pregnancy and the owners had been warned that the mare wouldn't be able to handle it.

Shaking her head she remained in the background, taking in everything as she suddenly seemed to have vanished as the barn manager turned to Mr Harman and asked his opinion on the mare's condition. She looked at the mare, knowing that they should be seeing the feet of the tiny baby any moment now, followed by the nose.

She removed the case for her contacts from her pocket and turning slightly away from the adults, she removed the brown contacts and blinked her oddly coloured eyes as the focused. She blinked the water from them as they regained focus on what was in front of her.

[Lottii]

The door finally (or so it seem it had been a long time) opened, and as he formed his mouth to reply the woman noticed Rain anyway and pushed past him. Matt shook his head and hurried after her. Perhaps he was making judgments on her already, she could easily act differently when she wasn't worrying about the mare. Reaching the stable he noted her waters had broken - as he had guessed earlier - but he took in the flash of annoyance on Cara's face as Lauren spoke. The manager was certainly coming off as rather brash.
Matt gave her a slight smile before his attention was caught by the woman speaking to him.

"No, not very long at all. With it being her first, I would guess it will take her around twenty minutes from when he waters broke, perhaps a minute or two longer as she might feel crowded." Turning away from the woman slightly, he looked towards Cara. "I'm sure you noted the time when her waters broke? Receiving a reply he glanced at Rain. She seemed to be doing okay at the moment, but he wanted to stay in case she ran into difficulties. "Would you prefer I stay here, or just be close by in the classroom? My vet instinct is telling me not to leave a mare through her first foaling, but I am sure you are capable of helping her if she doesn't have major issues. A slightly sarcastic smile hit his features for a second before he removed it swiftly. The stress still got to him, no matter how many first-timers he saw foaling.

[Cara]

Cara held her phone up when questioned if she had taken note of the time before she pushed it and the contact case into her pocket. "Around 5 minutes ago, Sir." She said softly as her eyes watched the mare lower herself to the ground with a groan in the stall, tuning out of the conversation between the two adults.

Her eyes sparkled as she finally caught sight of the tiny hooves, they were pointing downwards as they were supposed to so it meant that the foal was lying the correct way up and the right way around - so pleased that Rain's first foaling wasn't breached. She took a hesitant step forward as the mare contracted again and the baby came out further. A smile graced the girl's lips as she saw the tip of the foal's nose and she released a breath. As soon as the nose was clear the rest of the baby's body should just slide out.

She tipped her head to the side as Rain let out a sigh and everything seemed to freeze as the mare once more took hold of her inner strength. The girl wanted to be in there with the mare, but with the two adults outside the stall she remained where she was.

With another contraction, more of the foal slid out, both shoulders were now free and Rain once more took a moment to lie still while she caught her breath. With another push, the foal slid out until the hips were visible but then everything paused again until with one last push the entire foal was lying on the bedding.

Cara chewed on her bottom lip as she watched the baby who lay unmoving on the bedding, another smile graced her lips as the baby's head lifted off the bedding and drew in the first breath of air. The tiny feet flailed the air before the baby lay still again, the only movement was of the baby's side as each breath passed through the lungs

[Lottii]

Matt watched as the feet appeared. His eyes flickered between the mare and Cara - the girl's happiness when the delicate little nose poked out. He stood back from the door next to Lauren, the young girl the closest to the stable. Once the foal was fully out of Rain, he watched for the few heart-thudding moments until the first breath. A loud sigh of relief came from his mouth once the foal was breathing nicely, and he ran his experienced eye across the body, checking for any problems. He didn't pick up on anything bad, the little filly seemed to be doing fine. Smiling at Lauren he turned to face Cara, although his words were for them both. "Okay, I am going to try and start the class this time. Cara you are excused, but please come and get me if anything is wrong. I wouldn't mind knowing when the little baby has got some colostrum in her either! A grin and a nod at both girls, he took a last look at the little filly before striding down to the classroom.

ooc: its short

[Cara]

Cara watched the foal as it lay unmoving on the bedding. She knew that the stall would now need to be cleaned, but would need to wait until both mare and foal were on their feet.

She turned her head as Mr Harman spoke, she nodded as a mixture of thoughts flashed through her head. She was pleased that she had been excused so that she could keep an eye in the new mother and her baby, but she was also disappointed as she would miss the first session of the class. She shook her head as a sudden realization hit her. In her need to come and check on the mare, she had left her notebook, pens and pencil on her desk. Oh well, too late for that now. "Yes, Sir." The two words escaped from her lips softly as she continued to watch the two Haflingers.

It seemed to take forever, even though it was a few minutes, before rain lifted her head and looked over at the baby that lay down by her back legs. The mare carefully rearranged herself, tucked her back legs under her and finally heaved herself to her feet, the umbilical cord broke as Rain stood up. The mare then moved around and leaned her head down to gently nuzzle the baby who was still lying on her side.

With a sigh, the filly followed her mother's movements and tucked her hind legs under her and stuck her front legs out in front. Her first attempt to stand was squished as Rain began to lick the filly and the baby fell over onto her side again.

As much as she wanted to help, Cara knew that this was something the baby had to accomplish on her own - unless it took too long and she showed signs of needing assistance - so the girl remained outside the stall as she watched mother and child bond.

The filly's front feet stuck out again and with a heave she pushed herself up until she was standing on wobbly legs. This triumph however was short-lived as the baby's back legs were too close together and she toppled over again. The third attempt was a success though as she managed to control where each of her spindly legs were and remained on her feet.

Rain watched everything that her baby did, and once the filly was standing she blew down her nostrils over the baby, letting her daughter know how proud she was of her.

The filly took a couple of unsteady steps toward her mother before her legs gave way and she crashed onto the flooring again. But not wanting to admit defeat, The filly rose to her feet again and continued toward the mare, who had shifted herself a little closer to the foal, thrust her head under her dam and her tiny tail flicker back and forth as she suckled for the first time.

The girl once again pulled out her phone and checked the time. Since the foal had exited the mare, it had been half an hour - a pretty good time frame from birth to drinking. She made a note to let Mr Harman know about the timing as she looked around the stall again. Although she wanted to clean it, she knew that there was no point in this until the expulsion of the placenta.