April 25, 2011

Life, Death, and Milk

Last night our Nubian doe, Skippy, started having contractions and some other symptoms of labor so the kiddos were all eyes until the novelty wore off around 8 or so.  The younger ones (with a big kid rotating being in charge) watched a movie while they waited.  Then ended up going to bed.  Isaac (the doe is his) and Noah (our oldest) stayed up a bit to help.  Skippy loved to be petted by Isaac.  She seemed to be more calm with him near her.

At 10:30 we came in and decided to relax for a bit and just let her do her thing.  We hooked up the baby monitor so we could hear her.  Hubby and I went to bed around midnight.  (We were just too excited to sleep!)  And wouldn't you know it...five minutes later she really started making noise!  We waited a few minutes and Nathan decided to go out and check on her.  He'd give me the play-by-play over the monitor and after about 20 minutes of lots of very loud goat noises I decided to join the fun.

A few minutes after I got out there we noticed that she was very ready, but it didn't look right.  We didn't see the white spots of the hooves that are supposed to be seen, no nose part, nothing.  Only black fur.  Hubby examined her but didn't know what it was he was feeling.  I've read everything you can read on goat labor and delivery so I gave it a try.  I pulled on gloves because this pregnant mama didn't think she could handle it au naturale!  All I felt was a ball. It wasn't a head or feet.  Oh boy.  We couldn't maneuver baby around so we just went with it.  This baby that came out was so little.  And lifeless.   We tried everything we could for this little boy, but from the looks of it we think it was gone long before labor. *sigh*

So we prepared for the next one.  We knew she had to have two babies because she was so huge and the first baby was so little.  She pushed a bit and we saw white hooves and a nose!  Yes!!  She came out just fine!  I dried her off with several towels since mama was quite out of it.  I think she was still recovering from the first delivery.  I took her to her mama's side and Skippy then licked and nuzzled a bit.



Then Skippy started pushing. We just assumed she was getting rid of the placenta.  Nope...out came another set of hooves!  This little guy came out a bit smaller than Pixie but a bit bigger than the first so we thought we had a good chance.  It seemed lifeless.  Hubby tearfully prayed for it as he wiped it off and tried to stimulate it.  (Skippy wasn't doing much with Pixie and was quite out of it at this time so we knew she'd not be much help.)  He even tried breathing on it's mouth and nose and nothing.  It was so sad.  Three babies and only one lived.  The two little guys were all black, so different from their sister.


Pixie is so colorful!  She has long, beautiful white ears peppered with flecks of black, and a large white patch on the top of her head.  There are reddish-brown markings near her eyes (her daddy had a lot of reddish-brown markings).  She has a white tip on her tail and a white belly with white and red-brown markings on her legs.  So beautiful!


Skippy was still so out sorts that she seemed clumsy with her and didn't want to nurse so we stayed with them for a while.  Finally hubby had to head off to bed at 3:30 because he had to teach school in the morning.  Noah (our oldest) was so sweet to stay out there with me.  We didn't want Skippy to roll on her (which she would have a couple times if we hadn't been out there) and we wanted to make sure she got some good colostrum from her mama.  Finally Skippy expelled the last of the yuck and then she seemed to settle down into being a mama.  She lovingly tried directing Pixie to her teats, but Pixie went between wanting my attention (cute little bugger!) or wanting to just lay and cuddle with mama.




They seemed to be doing well so Noah and I went in the house around 6 a.m. and crashed.  At 8 a.m. I was woke up by stressed out kids saying grandma needed help with Skippy because she wouldn't nurse.  So off I went.  I ended up milking Skippy a bit and feeding Pixie with a syringe.  We left them alone for a few hours.  I went back out to check on them and Pixie's belly felt like it was fuller than when I had left her.  So she must have nursed on mama while we weren't looking.  Phew!  I'm hoping all goes well and that in two weeks I can start milking her.  Goat's milk soap and cheese....here I come!  *wink*

Edit:  I need to add that my mom was helping with the last delivery.  She also was inside holding down the fort while hubby and I were outside.  She and Isaac also did some goat-watch in the morning. 


This post is part of the Homestead Barn Hop HERE .


4 comments:

Karla said...

Congrats! Pixie is such a cute kid with a cute name!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, congratulations! What a thrill to see that second set of feet!

Cute, cute, cute!!! Thanks for sharing!

Carolyn said...

Adorable! So sad about her brothers. A few years back at a friends barn her mare lost her colt and my heart broke for her. I'm so glad she has her baby girl. Hope it all goes well and everyone gets some rest soon.

Mona @ Healthy Homesteading said...

Sorry for your loss. Glad the other is doing well.

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