Cria Watching at Hum Sweet Hum

 The alpaca breeding business is a true lesson in patience.  You carefully research genetics and examine your female and if she has cria, what worked and what could be improved upon and then you make the big decision on which stud to use.  After that, it is approximately 11 1/2 months of waiting to see how you did in making your choice.  The first eleven months actually seems to fly by but those last couple of weeks and days before that cria is delivered come to a screeching crawl.  The anticipation mounts and I look for the most subtle signs that the blessed event is near.  Alpacas tend to deliver their babies before mid-afternoon and usually in the morning so I stay close to home checking every 20 minutes to a half hour to see if anyone is in labor.  But, alpacas like to prove that old adage, "Watched pots never boil!" 

Naomi and Dove: The Watched Pots

 My observations have gotten more vigilant the last two days.  Naomi is hanging out by herself more and laying down more too.  She is huge so she must be so uncomfortable and tired lugging that big baby around inside her.  I was watching her very closely the other day when she was standing at the poop pile for an extra long time.  That can be a sign of labor.  They feel the cramping and think they need to go potty but in this case, she stood there and nothing came out so that triggered me to observe her more closely for a bit.  After nothing happened, she took a few steps and decided she was too tired to head back to the herd so cushed right where she was.  She looked miserable.  I have a tree stump in the pasture and decided to sit down on it and offer her a little energy session.  Naomi is one of my new members to my herd.  She is still rather skittish and wary of me so I didn't want to touch her so I can intuitively "send" the energy to her.  I sat and watched her for a bit and she would shift her body to one hip and then back into a sternal position.  I could tell by watching her which areas of her body seemed to be most uncomfortable by how she laid on the ground.  I could also tell by her eyes that she just wasn't feeling great.

I focused my attention and took slow breaths to help me concentrate and let my regularly rambling brain quiet down.  I visualized nice quiet white light drifting over her and wanted it to feel gentle and soothing.  I kept picturing the energy enter into her body and helping her to relax.  I do my energy much like a guided meditation talking to the animal in my mind about the light and oxygen entering her body to move through her body to all those areas that need comfort.  I sent her this gentle energy for about 5 minutes when I saw her eyes get heavy and she laid her head down on the ground and fell sound asleep.  I was pleased that it gave her some comfort to get some rest but it also pleased me that she accepted the energy.  She has been so very wary of me so to let me sit as close as I was to her and to take in the energy being offered was a sign that she is starting to build some trust in me.  

Back to my hot tea, my binoculars and get further tested in patience.  Perhaps that should be one of the babies' names -  Patience!