A Bun In The Oven

It's official: Vida is pregnant!  I got the results of the blood tests on the girls a couple of days ago.  I was musing to my coworkers, wondering when the results would be in, when not a couple of hours later they came in on the fax machine.  The test, total estrogens, indicates if their values are elevated, which would confirm pregnancy.  Frida was 6.0 and Vida was 999.5!  Apparently in donkeys their levels run 20% lower than horses so Vida is closer to 1200, which means that she is between 150-320 days (5-10 mos) pregnant.  Doesn't narrow it down too much!  The average gestation length in donkeys is 360-375 days so, I have a little while still before really having to watch her.  Vida could be due as soon as January - we estimated that the two young mini donkeys in the seizure were around 7 months in August (so born in January) and they were almost assuredly Vida and Frida's babies.  It is possible that she was bred anytime after that so, who knows!  I'll just have to keep an eye on her progression - ie how big her belly gets and when her udder starts filling out - and keep my fingers crossed that everything goes well!  A mini donkey baby, how cute!