How is She Still Alive!?!?!?

Things have been sort of hectic and exciting around here......yesterday morning  Terry went to check the cows, and found a newborn calf in the pond!! Mom was just standing there watching, but of course there was nothing she could do. She had been born either late the night before, or early yesterday morning. Of course, it is very cold here, temps have been in the teens and we've had snow too. We're not sure if she walked out on the ice (there was just a very thin layer of ice on the pond), or if she was born at the edge, and just stumbled into the pond when she got up. Either way, it was a dire situation.....Terry called me immediately and told me to bring him a rope, so when I got there , he roped her and pulled her out. The pond is pretty shallow, and she could stand up, but only the top of her head and nose were above water.....and we have no idea how long she was in there!

So we got her out, and immediately stated drying her with towels, and put her in the floorboard of the truck, with the heat blowing on her on the ride back to the house. Made her a bed in the laundry room, and put a heater in front of her and warm blankets on her. She was shivering really bad, and cold as ice, her eyes were rolled back in her head, eyes closed........and basically non-responsive.....she was very bad off. I took her temperature, which didn't even register on my digital thermometer, which meant her temp was below 90* F. A normal temp for a calf should be around 101.6. Finally after about 45 minutes, it registered at 90.2, then slowly started coming up from there. Her nose finally got some pink to it, and she started opening her eyes and being more alert.....whew! We really didn't expect her to make it, and she is not out of the woods yet.....she still won't take a bottle or nurse at all......We think she has gotten some water in her lungs, which is not good at all. We gave her a shot of antibiotic, and now it is just a waiting game. She does stand and try to walk around, and is very alert this morning.....just no interest in the bottle.

She is a big, strong calf (she had to be to survive what she did).......she is black with a solid white face, eyeliner on one eye, white on her ears,  and a black speckled nose.....just a doll! I was researching information on the Internet, and it said that usually when their temp falls below 94*F, their organs start shutting down, so I really can't believe she is still alive....her temp was in the 80's........

Ruby Jane loves her, as you will see in the pictures, Ruby would set by her a lot, lick her face and eyes, until she started coming around. It was really sweet, Ruby seemed to be worried about her......

Our hopes are to get her taking the bottle good, then, putting her in the large stall in the barn with mom for a few days. We are hoping that mom takes her back, she didn't seem too concerned that we left with her, she went right back to eating with the herd which is not good. Usually they will run around and call to the calf, but I'm sure she thinks the calf is dead, so we will just wait and see.

So, at this point, we really don't know if she is gonna pull through, they are so sensitive at this stage, and anything can happen, so we are doing all we can for her and hoping for the best! 

So, in the meantime......I have a cow in the house!!!

Still not warmed up yet, pale nose, shivering and eyes shut.......

                                      Barely with us................

                                                       

Ruby Jane checking her out........

Greta and Ruby checking on her......

                                        Checking again, LOL.........

                                              

Starting to come around..........

Ruby and Snowflake.........

Ruby just sat there....wouldn't leave her for the longest (she is such a sweet dog, loves everything and everyone)

Ruby looking worried.........

She's alert now.....and Ruby was kissy, kissy, kissy, which I think helped Snowflake to come around........

Resting.............

Yay.....finally standing up and alert....now to get her to nurse!!

Well, I better go check on her, and try to get her to take some milk......we are still cautiously optimistic, but it's too early to say she is gonna make it, I will post updates whenever I can..........