Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Where To Begin?

I know that I haven't posted in a long while. But we are fine, I have just had a few health problems, a death in the family, a lot of halter orders to finish and get shipped and too much to do around the farm. I had promised to blog on Sunday night before going to bed but all of my plans were foiled again.

We were getting ready to leave the house for several hours on Sunday evening and I asked my DH if he thought that I should put Paris in the barn stall while we were gone. She was in the goat shed and had not come out when I fed grain to the others. But we had changed feed and she didn't like it anyway so I thought that was the problem. My DH said that I should put her up but that he had looked at her and he was sure that she wouldn't be kidding anytime soon.

Sunday was her due date but after I evaluated her, I didn't think that she was ready either. Her udder was not full or tight and she was not dilated at all.

I went into the house to clean up and change my clothes and was ready to leave when I heard the water pump running, I asked the DH if he had left the water running outside and he said, yes, so I put my shoes on and went out to turn the hydrant off.

I opened the door and immediately heard the sound of a doe in labor. I could see her from the door and she was pushing hard. I turned around and said, "She is kidding!". He said,"You're kidding?" and I said, "NO, she is kidding!". He ran outside and I ran for towels.

Nothing happened, she was in terrible hard labor but nothing was happening. My DH asked me for gloves and I came in to get them, then came back in and changed into my dirty clothes again. When I got back outside, still no bubble. He tried to open her up to see inside and we could see the bubble but she just was not dilated enough.

We gave her as much time as possible without waiting too long and then he went back in to assist the bubble without breaking it. His hand made her contractions harder and that helped more than anything.

After the bubble was out, still no feet, so we waited awhile then he went back in and found the feet and started pulling. The nose came out with the feet, so we knew we were in the right position. He pulled and she screamed with each contraction.

I tried to push back on the skin to work the babies head out but I could feel the head and it was enormous, I was afraid that it was a single and it was just too big. After a lot of pulling and working her big head popped out and when it did her whole body came out too.

He handed the white with brown headed doeling to me and I slung her around a little bit and really didn't expect her to be alive but she was. We wiped her mouth and nose area. Mama didn't get up and so we put a towel down at her head and since it was a hot day and Paris is a first freshener, we let her clean the rest of her up.

We waited and waited and nothing else happened, we were sure that there was at least one more in there. Finally my DH put his hand in again to start more contractions and she popped out a very tiny, black with brown points buckling.

Paris cleaned him all up and still just laid there. The kidlings were wanting to nurse but she would not get up. My Husband finally helped her get to her feet and from there on everything has been perfect. She passed both of her afterbirths and I let her eat them. She is a very good mommy.

We learned a valuable lesson, goats usually give birth on their due date whether they look ready or not.

More later...

6 comments:

The Old Gray Egg said...

The story gives me the shivers. I'm glad it turned out well. Earlier this spring, we had a pygmy goat go into labor for the first time. She didn't progress. Ended up at one in the morning at the vet for a C-section. Triplets, all breech. Two made it. One was stillborn. She accepted one. The other was rejected and raised on a bottle in the house. This was all on the morning our mother who was living with us for the past 9 years died. Remaining goats are doing well, though.

Jiller said...

congrats on the babies, good thing you were there to help! glad to hear everything is okay with you all, I was getting a little worried as it's just not like you to go this long without a post! Have a great day and know when you are gone for a while your readers do miss you!

KAREN IN MASS said...

CONGRADULATIONS ON THE NEWBORNS!!! IT WAS A GOOD THING YOU WERE THERE OTHERWISE.....
I/WE ARE GLAD YOU ARE BACK. I MISSED YOU.
I AM SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS OF A FAMILY MEMBER. MY DEEPEST CONDOLENCES.
I WAS GOING TO BUY A HALTER FROM YOU FOR SHAY BUT IF YOU'RE THAT BUSY I WILL WAIT. I AM TRYING TO SEND YOU PICTURES BUT WHERE I HAVE THEM I CAN'T ATTACH THEM TO THE E-MAIL...
WELL, AGAIN, I'M GLAD YOU'RE BACK!!

KAREN

Welcome To Wilmoth Farms said...

I'm so glad things worked out so well after such a scary time for all! Nice to catch up on you too...like you lots of things, health included has kept me away from the computer...glad things are okay.

Pintura Springs said...

The Old Gray Egg, I lost a doe and triplets last year, it never comes at a good time and can be very discouraging. Sorry about your Mother.

Jiller, Thank you so much! Your comments always cheer me up.

Karen, Thank you! You had better find a way to send me those pictures! I currently have about 70 halters to make within the next week or so, what's one more?

Rachel, I have been noticing that you haven't been posting much either, which is good because I haven't had the time to read your posts. This is just a really busy time of year. Sorry to hear that you are having some health issues.

Claire MW said...

Wow, catching up on some blogs today and what a story on yours! Reminds me of pulling out little Wilder just a week ago. Scary moment for me because it was my first time "going in" but he came out just fine. Glad you were there and that it all worked out.

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