# Gloves when assisting with birth?



## NWgoats (Jul 17, 2008)

If you have to go in to assist, do you glove up? And if so, do you
wear the long OB gloves or the wrist length gloves?


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## dragonlair (Mar 24, 2009)

I used to wear the shoulder length ones but found that I couldn't feel things as well and you still need to use antibiotics after being inside, so I stopped. I just disinfect myself real well before I go in .


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

I'm with Sully, but please do not forget to administer antibiotics afterwards. I usually give one dose of Biomycin to ward off infection and oxytocin if she does not clean within 12 hours. Jennifer


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

Even disinfecting your arms and hands, I still wear nitrile gloves. I ALWAYS have little sores or cracked skin and bacteria swarm all over the hands. And I still flush afterwards. Tam


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## Guest (Jan 21, 2010)

I can't do a thing with gloves on,, I wash up well with novalsan or what it is.. and flush my doe afer and put her on antibiotics.. 
Barb


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## chewie (Jul 26, 2008)

nightskyfarm said:


> I'm with Sully, but please do not forget to administer antibiotics afterwards. I usually give one dose of Biomycin to ward off infection and oxytocin if she does not clean within 12 hours. Jennifer


how much biomysin?


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## mill-valley (Feb 22, 2008)

I also do not wear gloves; but I scrub with chlorhexidine first.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

nope no gloves for me


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## pokyone42 (Oct 26, 2007)

I tried the latex gloves.. were not long enough..... I then tried the shoulder-length gloves.....could not feel a thing. Since then, I scrub up the doe's cooch, as well as my hand.... really well with dawn dish soap..... all has been okay since.......


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

No gloves in my herd but I do when I help in other herds, I do not wear the elbow length ones because it's easy to clean up your arms, not your hands. I also don't give antibiotics unless it's horrific, or the gross factor, you gross me out and you get antibiotics, and one shot isn't going to do anything. IF you choose to use antibiotics than give the whole series.

Sally try putting some dawn dishwahing liquid on your 'cooch'  Keeping betadine scrub around and keeping real lubes are cheap, I use chlorhexideen because of my asthma. Vicki


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

We just scrub up real good if we have to go in. When my vet had to go in to deliver a dead, slurry baby, he inserted a Nolvasan bolus and prescribed 8cc Biomycin every other day for 3 doses. She was a large La Mancha doe. She had no problems conceiving or kidding after that time. I don't have Nolvasan boluses, but do give the three dose course of Biomycin if it's a rough or gross kidding.


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I like using gloves. It seems I'm constantly touching potentially bacteria-laden stuff while I'm busy with the kids. I do clean myself also, but if I am going to do a check I feel better wearing clean gloves.


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## nightskyfarm (Sep 7, 2009)

4.5cc of Biomycin per 100 lbs. every 3 days for a total of 3 shots is what I normally give after a difficult, hand in delivery and oxytocin if she has not passed the afterbirth. You can still feed her milk to her kids, but with-hold from human use for 10 days to 2 weeks, I err on the side of caution and take a sample for testing or try to make cheese. If antibiotic residue is there, cheese will not be there. Jennifer


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## danielsumner (Jul 21, 2009)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> Sally try putting some dawn dishwahing liquid on your 'cooch'  Keeping betadine scrub around and keeping real lubes are cheap, I use chlorhexideen because of my asthma. Vicki


I've been sitting here at work tonight and have been feeling kinda blue. Everyone in the office was commenting about me being so quiet. Well I decided to check the forum. When I read this I was just about literally rolling on the floor laughing out loud. Everyone came running to see If I was OK. Vicki, Thanks for making my night.

Daniel


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## Katarina (Oct 25, 2007)

I wear gloves, but them I am wimp. :lol: I don't like touching anything that might even remotly feel slimy.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Oh boy, so do you wear gloves even for regular kiddings, then?


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## NWgoats (Jul 17, 2008)

This has been very helpful. I am pretty sure that gloves are not any more 
sterile than hands. I was also concerned with the wrist length ones slipping off
if I had to go in further to reposition. I do have the long OB gloves, but
they seem pretty flimsy. 
I know the nitrile ones are pretty easy to feel with, but if it came down to
really needing to know what I had hold of, I would prefer bare hands. Thanks
for all your input.


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## hsmomof4 (Oct 31, 2008)

Well, they're not sterile, but the gloves won't have the little cracks in them (like along the edges of joints on your fingers, for example) or other places that can harbor bacteria that washing or even scrubbing is not necessarily going to get out. So it's not like it doesn't matter at all as far as cleanliness goes, but once you put those gloves on, you're touching things (like the back end of the doe) that aren't clean...it's not like you're in the OR and everything is draped and scrubbed and so on. 

I do have the same worries about a wrist length glove coming off (and then having to find it!). The long OB gloves seem pretty worthless, IMO...totally wrong material for being able to feel well, too loose, too liable to break or tear.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

I think they are overrated. Don't get me wrong- I understand clean and when there is a need but... I can't see with my hands as well with that extra layer in the way. I do however put gloves on because the birthing fluids eat me up. I come out so rashy and burning burning burning that it is for ME that I use them. I think my does must have very alkaline fluids because it is just like a lye burn all on the inside of my arms. I use them in catching normal births and cleaning faces and etc just because until the kid is dry for a few hours they set me on fire! 
But when I had to tend a real triplet trainwreck I tossed em cuz I could not read what was happening.
Lee


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## icboers (Feb 1, 2009)

I too break out in a rash when I assist with a birth. Only on the insides of my arms tho, so not sure exactly what causes it.

Karla


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## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians said:


> No gloves in my herd but I do when I help in other herds, I do not wear the elbow length ones because it's easy to clean up your arms, not your hands. I also don't give antibiotics unless it's horrific, or the gross factor, you gross me out and you get antibiotics, and one shot isn't going to do anything. IF you choose to use antibiotics than give the whole series.


Same here!


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I would be much more worried about catching something from the doe, rather than us giving them something, especially uterine infection wise. The body cleans pretty normally, the placenta then days of lochia cleansing the system. I don't break out during kidding season, but I do break out on the inside of my arms most other times when doing alot of goat chores. Vicki


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## thaiblue12 (Nov 5, 2009)

LoL "cooch" washing with Dawn on your own "cooch" had me laughing :rofl 

I use gloves up to my wrist if:
I do not drop them on the barn floor while taking things out of my pockets
I do not have messy hands and can text my kids " Please bring me gloves to the barn " 

Otherwise I go in "naked" personally I can feel things better that way. I did have gloves on a few weeks ago mainly because it was freezing. I could not tell what I was feeling, felt like hooves. I took the gloves off and realized it was hips bones. 

Their uterus cleans itself so I do not use antibiotics. No fever, no reason.


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## DostThouHaveMilk (Oct 25, 2007)

I don't use gloves. I can't tell what I am doing. I wash up well when a doe is in labor.
So far, I have not had to help anyone else's doe....yet. With as many herds as I am helping I'm sure it will happen at some point.
My hands react to the birthing fluid as well. Not near as bad as lye but it does burn. Then again, that is in the winter time when I am bringing these super warm hands out into the very cold air...so that may have some affect on it as well.


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## TroyG (Nov 20, 2009)

I am dude and always working with my hands, so I struggle with keeping my nails clean. Therefore, I wear gloves when I go in, but I do not use antibiotics. I only give them when there is a real need.


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## Faithful Crown Nubians (Dec 5, 2007)

I don't give antibiotics either unless it's needed. Last year when I had to reposition Hannah's kid I just took her temp and a herd mates temp daily for about 5 days after kidding. Never had a problem with infection.


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## NWgoats (Jul 17, 2008)

This has also answered another question I have had. I have heard that "if you go in, you
have to give antibiotics", but it never made any sense to me.Not only that, but some of my
"old school" neighbors insist that one dose of something will be enough! In my herd, unless 
there is real need, I do not want to fill them full of drugs. But, after kidding and the natural 
cleaning out of the doe making it unnecessary does make sense.


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## Caprine Beings (Sep 19, 2008)

Last year when Roslyn aborted I used antibiotics through a flush and left her alone. OF COURSE I wore gloves with this to get the bones out. Tam


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## Qvrfullmidwife (Oct 25, 2007)

The best reason to wear gloves during kidding is to protect the PERSON against anything that they might catch from the doe. Though unlikely, there are diseases that a person may catch that can cause miscarriage, preterm labor etc.

You will never see 'sterile'...in fact if you think that the average vaginal exam that a woman gets in labor in the hospital is sterile you are dead wrong. 

That said...

knowing my own goats it is rare that I wear them. I prefer to work barehanded, it is easier for me to find what I am looking for. Hopefully none of my people births will ever present with a confusing presentation or I will be tempted to peel off the glove to get a better feel! For a check that I am pretty sure will just be for placenta--I'll wear gloves. Kinda messy otherwise...


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

I wear regular nitrile to check progress, but if I am doing anything 'serious' I too scrub with betadine up to the elbows and use nothing. I only use antibiotics if there is a yuck factor, or if I had to go in multiple times, like when I delivered the sextuplets. I just don't like OB gloves, though my vet fishes around with them on quite well.


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## Feral Nature (Oct 26, 2007)

I don't wear gloves and I'm and old operating room nurse. Like others said, a human is more likely to get an infection than a doe (in a normal, non-traumatic delivery). The doe will push all the goop out of her body along with anything you have touched in there, so all the germs you are worried about, will come out with the fluids and placenta and stuff. It is impossible to be sterile in a barn, you can simply be clean. A doe with a traumatic delivery with very likely tears should have antibiotics, full course, not just one or two days, to prevent infection. But this does not happen often. In all the years I have delivered kids,and I always stick my hands in there, I have only given antibiotics once, and that was after a very taumatic delivery of a dead kid. Now, just because it has been mentioned that "it is more likely that a human will get an infection than the doe", that does not mean to freak out and be afraid of goop. That is just to put it in prespective. Goop is your friend. It helps you to know what is going on with your doe. Do not fear goop. I touch goop all the time and it has yet to kill me


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

> I touch goop all the time and it has yet to kill me Happy smile


 :biggrin :biggrin :biggrin
Love that!
L


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## Oat Bucket Farm (Mar 2, 2009)

I don't use gloves. I just wash well.


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## NWgoats (Jul 17, 2008)

:rofl :rofl "I touch goop all the time" , so do I. When you have animals and live on
a farm, goop is a fact of life. Sometimes I tell "cityfolk" stuff and they are all grossed
out. (Do it on purpose, then laugh at the expressions. :biggrin)


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## Natural Beauty Farm (Feb 10, 2009)

No gloves here. Vet stole my lube though, need to get more. Thanks for reminding me.


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## luvzmybabz (Sep 15, 2008)

I tried gloves (the OB type) the first time I had to try and move legs around and forward. Just made a slippery situation even worse. Ripped the gloves off and grabbed ahold. MUCH easier.


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## mamatomany (Aug 7, 2008)

I have my teat dip which is part chlorohexideen and a few drops of tea tre oil, do you think that would be good for pre-surgical wash-up just in case?


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I kind of just went round and round with someone about this on Face Book, we all do not know the concentrations of our EO in real life, mine must be drastically stronger than some, since she was saying she uses her Peppermint straight out of the bottle on her face for a headache...sorry but mine would burn your skin used straight. So no way would I use something I don't know how strong it is on vaginal tissue...perhaps mix it up and try it on a sensitive area of yourself first...I test on the fold of my arm. Vicki


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

Well, they say tea tree is the only EO safe to use directly on your skin...but mint! :crazy


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I will send you a dozen donuts Michelle if you go douche with Lillian's Tea Tree or Triple Distilled Peppermint right now! :rofl


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## pokyone42 (Oct 26, 2007)

lol! I guess I did not word that quite right! I didn't mean that I use STRAIGHT dawn dish soap...I dilute it in a pail of water!  I DID get it in my eyeball once...straight Dawn....when doing dishes...OUCH!

But... Nah... I just use a little Dawn in a WHOLE pail of warm water to scrub up with...seems to work fine.  Sorry about the misunderstanding there!


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

:rofl Thanks Vicki, but I don't _need_ a dozen donuts, and I'm not crazy!


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