Izadora's New Colt

Work still takes place even though we feel the world should stop until we can realize the enormity of Gabriel's death. Izadora delivered a big black colt this morning in the mud. We were too upset about the accident to even think of Izadora's pending delivery. Steven checked on her about 8:30pm drew a bit of milk from her udder and it was a little more opaque but not enough to call me to test it. Steven put her back out with Lily and Jenis as that paddock has plenty of hay and Izadora thinks they are her best friends. Of course she has to deliver in the mud. Mike called to tell me that the baby was here but it couldn't get up. I drove out as fast as possible, picked him up and tried to carry him but he was just too heavy for me. I got the wheelbarrow, loaded him up and got him to the barn. Drove over to mom's for hot water and rags and tried to clean him off. He is filthy and now so am I. Steven drove to my house to get more rags and the bottle just in case it was necessary. It was! We ended up giving him about 5 ounces of colostrum milked from Izadora by bottle before he figured out how to nurse. He was still having trouble getting up on his own so we moved him into the breeding shed paddock where the ground slopes enough to drain. We cleaned up his umbilical cord as much as possible and soaked it in iodine. Hopefully that will stop infection. After watching him get up twice on his own I left for home to clean up.
Diane, Tim, Joan, Sarah, Bethany, Hanna and Faith are flying in to Bloomington Airport tonight around 11:30pm. Fede will drive his motorhome to pick them up. We are having a prayer meeting at Rachel's house tonight at 6:30pm, Rachel suggested that anyone that can come should to help pray for the Reinhards. We don't know how hard it will be to bury a second son but with God's help will they be able to get through this.