Glenda the Goat

I am sure when Mrs. Jones and daughter came to the clinic with Glenda there was a fair amount of excitement in the preparations. Glenda was due to give birth for the third time. They thought she had started into labor the evening before. After some time passed and no kids arrived, Mrs Jones tried to give assistance but was unable to determine the orientation of the offspring and opted for more experienced hands.

Somehow the case came to me. It may be due to the fact that I have by far the smallest hands and arms of any of the doctors at our clinic, and have had success dealing with goat dystocia cases before. Either way, after discussing the history with Mrs. Jones I began working my hand and arm through the very small pelvis, while daughter Susie looked on with rapt attention. I soon had two feet with twine string around them ready to begin moving but was having some trouble getting the head into the right position. An uncooperative head is often not a good sign and this case was no different. I determined that the kid was already dead and had very sharp teeth that were jutting almost straight out. I decided to pass on the news and mother began to discuss with Susie to help prepare her for the possibility of not taking home bouncing babies and instead focusing on saving Glenda. In the meantime I was able to manipulate the head and had two front feet and a head all pointed in the right direction. I made several applications of pressure on the legs but things were not moving out like I would have liked. To make sure I had good positioning and didn't have front legs from two different kids I pushed the head back into the uterus to explore more deeply.
I extended my arm farther in than on previous manipulation and knew pretty quickly that something was very wrong. On the right side of the body, forward of the pelvis, where the uterus should have been holding everything tightly I could move my hand all too freely. As I continued to explore I could feel the bladder, small intestines, and the body wall. All told the uterus was torn from the right paralumbar fossa (the right side of the body right in front of the hip and just below the backbone) all the way down and across to half way up the other side of the body.
Sharing this news brought expected tears from Mrs. Jones and an understanding of why there had been so much bloody discharge through the night. The most likely culprit in this case was the jutting teeth of the baby against the pressure of the pelvis after the protectvie layers of the amniotic sac were no longer intact. After options of an abdominal exploratory with a poor chance of success was discussed the decision was made to euthanize. If one good thing could be found from the experience, the euthansia was very routine and Glenda went down very quietly and peacefully while mother and daughter watched on.