The morning after my little granddaughter was born, I phoned Alan to chat about everything being wonderful in my life when he also had some very exciting news. Lily the alpaca had given birth to a stunning little girl, our first girl! It was a bit of a surprise, she was early. According to mating dates we were expecting Lily to give birth approximately a month later, when I was home and we could panic together! A couple of days went on and she was looking good, and all in the world was looking wonderful!
Sadly this was not to last. When the little baby was four days old, Alan went to check on her early, as he had every morning, and of course other times throughout the day and he was extremely worried. She was very weak, and seemed unable to stand. Andres the vet was brought in, by our good samaritan friend Ken. He also came back later, in the afternoon, although Alan had decided by this time to take her to the vetinary hospital at Cordoba University. Our very good friends Nigel and Ginny came up from Ronda, a drive of over three hours, to bring Alan some blood plasma to be given intravenously, and of course to be of great support to him, as he was going through this alone. They met at the hospital although sadly it was too late, the little girl did not make it. Yet another sad day at Alpacas el Sol.
Someone up there is really testing us!
Lily with her gorgeous little girl
I was devasted! There I was in England, with my gorgeous new little grandaughter, and so proud of my daughter, and I knew that Alan was dealing with this nightmare all on his own. My heart was so divided. A huge part of it, full of happiness and love for my family I was spending time with, and the other part was broken hearted, knowing we had lost a baby alpaca, but mainly that Alan was having to cope with this on his own. I discussed things with Frankie and Chris and I made a decision to cut my holiday with them short, just by three days. Of course they understood and were supportive. We have another cria due in January, it's going to be a worrying time!
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