Crazy Busy Weekend!

What a weekend! What a week beginning! It has been busy and crazy and I'm whooped. Here are the details that I can remember...

Friday we had music lessons. Shiphrah got her Twinkle Award!!!! She gets to learn Honey Bee now. Very exciting!

Saturday, Samuel and I went to a birthday party for Jack and Andrew--a couple of boys in our church that are roughly the same ages as Samuel and Solomon. It was at Chuck E Cheese and we had a lot of fun playing and visiting. Also on Saturday, I realized that I had goofed on Jill's due date... Sunday, not Thursday. That's what I get for not keeping accurate records--a couple nights lost sleep! David spent the day working on our library and I spent the day watching goats, cleaning mud off of children, trying not to get frustrated at the chaos in my house that I could do nothing about... We also had a nice visit with David's sister and daughter. They brought Jack the dog, who will be in Samuel's care for the week while they are in DC. Faith and Samuel (and Cinderella) went across the street to the pond and played in the mud.

When we realized that Jill's due date would be on Sunday, and after seeing how pitiful she was that evening, we thought it best that one of us stay home from church to keep an eye on her and help if necessary. Originally, we thought it best for David to go and me stay home, but after thinking about the past weeks, we thought it best that I go and David stay home. I had missed the past 2 weeks from either the kids or I being ill. So, David stayed up late working in the library!

Well, Sunday morning, I went out to feed animals, and Jill looked to be in the early stages of labor. I told David and he thought that maybe I should stay and help her. So, I spent most of the day in the barn. It was fairly uneventful at first. I could tell she was having some contractions and she would just lean on me and breathe hard through them. I talked gently to her and told her what a good job she was doing--much like my labor support folks have done for me in the past. When I would get up to leave, she would cry, so I stuck by her as much as possible. At one point, I thought maybe she was getting closer, but I really couldn't tell. Animals aren't nearly as big of wimps about labor as humans! When I hit transition (sans epidural) I feel like that must be what Jesus felt on the cross! Yes, I know it isn't even close, but I'm really not being melodramatic! I don't mean to be sacreligious, either. I've never been in so much pain, and certainly not so much pain for the sake of another, and it's more than I can handle. I feel like the entire world is resting on me and it's about to split me into a million pieces. I can do nothing but cry. I'd rather endure boot camp three times over. Goats must not have this experience--at least not in a normal birth!

So, I am watching Jill and thinking that she looks like she's pushing... she's hunching up and trying to poop--sometimes successfully and sometimes not. She's not laying down, though, so I was stumped. I thought that if I could check her cervix for dilation, I might know how close she was. After attempting to do that, I realized how pitifully unprepared I was, and that I know nothing about finding a goat cervix, let alone what it feels like. I went inside to get on Dairy Goat Info, an online forum full of goat owners that collectively share information and help one another. There are some very experienced and knowlegable folks there, and they've been a huge help to me. So, I posted a question and putzed around the house a bit waiting on answers. After checking my responses, I felt ready to go back to the barn and give it another try.

When I got to the barn, I discovered that I wouldn't need to try! There were FOUR babies on the ground!!!! I knew she had two in her, and that she was huge, so I expected 2 large twins, but FOUR!!! I was shocked! This is pretty rare for a yearling first freshener. I looked around and saw that one baby looked dead. One had been cleaned up by Jill, and 2 were laying there all wet and cold. I thought about all the work I had ahead of me to get them dried, warmed up, the birth fluids cleaned up, the dead kid disposed of, everyone in the kidding stall, getting the goats nursing, hooves and navels dipped in iodine... okay. Overwhelmed! I ran in the house and told David I needed his help, pronto, and a quick synopsis of the situation. I grabbed a stack of old towels and he grabbed the kids to come help!

We went out to dry off kids. The one that looked dead was most definitely dead. He was fully formed, so I think it may have just been because I wasn't there for the actual birth. Maybe he came out wrong and broke his neck. Or maybe she had him standing up and he got injured in the fall. Maybe he drowned in his sack. Who knows. David put him in a bag and removed him before the two legged children got a chance to see much.

The remaining goats were 2 bucks and a doe. The one buck that Jill had dried off looked just like the dead buck. Red with frosted ears and muzzle, white top knot, black stripe down the spine and black socks. The other buck is all black with a little white spot on his side. He has a parrot mouth, so we're not certain what his fate will be. Samuel has fallen in love with him and wants him as a pet wether. Most goats with this defect have difficulty nursing, eating, chewing cud... I was thinking that if we didn't cull him immediately, that maybe he should just be dinner. I don't think I'm going to have that option, though! There is a possibility that his face will improve and so far he's quite vigorous, so we're taking it one day at a time. The doeling is all brown. Kind of a light brown color... She's a doll! Shiphrah wants to name her Belle. We don't have definite names on any of them yet.

Anyhow, we dried off the black buck and the doe, got everyone in the kidding stall, kids under the heat lamp, cords and feet dipped in iodine, and sat and waited for Jill to pass her placentas. She had two of them--one in each half of her uterus serving two feti. (Did you know "feti" is the plural of fetus?!) When she passed that, we gave that to Cinderella. She chowed down and now thinks that the baby goats are her babies, too, and is most protective and motherly toward them! When given the opportunity, she licks them, cleans their behinds, and whatnot. She also takes care of cleaning Jill when she can get to her, but we don't keep her in the kidding stall. She stays right outside it, though, guarding her new charges!

The kids were too small and weak to nurse all on their own, so we've been going to the barn every couple of hours and helping them latch on. Around....the....clock. Can you say EXHAUSTED?!?! I can't believe that I will be doing this with Julie and her babies in less than 3 weeks, and that I'm due less than 3 weeks after that. What was I thinking in breeding this year again?!?!

All the baby goats are peeing, pooping, are having milk stools and are past the meconium, and are up, walking around, and doing well. The doe seems to be the most vigorous, which is comforting, because she's the only one that I know for sure that I want to keep. The black buck has some foot issues in addition to his mouth. His tendons are overstretched and his feet aren't strong. I have one of them splinted and plan on getting some supplementation (selenium and Vitamin E) for him that should help. The other buck hunches up quite a bit, but I hear that that is normal for a while. We're just taking things one day at a time and seeing how they go. Tonight, they all nursed a bit better, and I hear that by a week, they're usually doing it pretty well on their own, so that is the light at the end of the tunnel.

This morning, I had an appointment with Dr. Trabue, my OB. He thought my goat delivery story was great! :) He spent his summers when he was a boy on a farm and had goats' milk. He didn't like it, though. :) We had a good visit. I have a small amount of protein in my urinalysis, but he wasn't concerned. It is a very minute amount, my blood pressure is low, and I've only gained a pound since the last visit, so he thinks the risk of toxemia is minimal. I go back in 2 weeks, and then once a week from there on out.

I then went to Nashville Violins, since Samuel is ready for a bigger size. It was closed. So, that's a trip that will have to be made again, and NOT on a Monday! I went to Lowe's and Walmart and got some things we need around here while David spent the day working on our library, taking care of the two legged kids, and taking care of the new 4 legged kids as well. You never knew he could be a goat lactation consultant, did you?! He's quite good at it!

When I got home, I noticed that I was driving around on a nearly flat tire. Whether the nail that got there was one of those that my mom dropped on the driveway, or whether it was from one of Samuel's building projects, I don't know. More things to fix. The van has a flat, too. Ugh!

So tomorrow, David will run the errands... Nashville Violins, fix the tires, pick up more supplies from Walmart and Farmer's Co-Op. I will rest, do laundry, and work with baby goats. I sure wish we weren't having a cold front come through with all this time we're spending in the barn right now!!!

Tonight, I caulked moldings in the library. Tomorrow, David will install the molding around the door, I will caulk the nail holes and any gaps, and then he'll paint the moldings and walls one more time after the children are asleep and can't get in it! Wednesday, we look forward to moving all the books, bookshelves, computer, desk, school desks, etc. back into the library, and putting all of the other displaced furniture around our house back where it belongs. What a happy woman I will be when our home is back in order!

The library already looks amazing, even though it's not completely finished. It doesn't even look like a room that belongs in our house! It has natural maple hardwood floors!!! A pale yellow paint on the walls (called "peaceful calm") is a huge switch from the dark purple (Oatlands Violet) that was there before. The moldings are now white, rather than oak stained. Everyone wants to claim the room for their own, even without a closet--we all want to sleep there! It will be a wonderful homeschool room. We will look forward to being there much more, I think.

So that's it! Whew! I'm more than ready for bed... just as soon as I get this wide-awake little boy another sippy cup of chocolate milk...