It seems only fitting that the first post on our new farm blog should focus on the first birth that has happened on our farm.
It seemed like a tumultuous few months leading up to the birth of Sadie's babies (Chlamydia anyone? yuck!). All the kids were so excited counting down the days until her due date while I was on pins and needles waiting for something to go wrong.
I wonder if Annie knew something was going on, or was about to happen, with Sadie because she never left her side in the 48 hours leading up to the birth.
The day before she went into labor she was acting "off" and I worried about toxemia. Originally we thought she was due about a week, basing her due date of the second time she bred. In hindsight she was acting off because she was on the verge of labor because her first breading took. So, in my original line of thinking I worried about toxemia since she wasn't acting right and the only way to check that is getting a urine sample. I offered the kids 2 bucks to whomever could catch a cup of urine first and Jarom was the most eager.
Notice her leg up in this picture as she is about to kick him!
Woohoo, 2 dollars with your name on them! After snapping his picture I tested her urine and she did have trace ketones. To be on the safe side I went ahead and gave her some Nutri-drench and watched for more toxemia signs.
The next morning Lola came down complaining that the screaming goat woke her up. I was on the other side of the house so I didn't hear anything until she pointed it out. Sure enough Sadie was bleeting on the back steps. A few weeks before her due date we had moved her into the nursery that is right off our dining room so we could keep constant eye on her and so it would make delivery easier being so close to the house and away from the rest of the herd.
Of course what we didn't anticipate was a storm to come through on the day she labored, adding to her misery. Goats, for the most part, detest getting wet and the fact that it was down pouring was making her miserable. She didn't want to be in her playhouse and walking around or laying down outside of the house meant she was going to get rained on.
So we quickly went to plan b and set up a kidding pen for Sadie in the garage. This actually worked out nicely since she labored for the entire day. There are couches and a tv in the garage so we could be entertained while keeping an eye on her. The kids and I stayed with her all day taking turns petting her and making sure she was ok. Being the first goat birth we had seen we didn't want to miss a minute.
Finally, about 12 hours after she started making a fuss in the backyard the bubble appeared!
We were all SO excited!! The kids could hardly contain themselves. It had seemed like we had waited on these babies forever!
The bubble is getting bigger...
And bigger still. I was a nervous wreck waiting for the baby to appear. My time training as a homebirth midwife actually came in handy and helped me be calm and hands off. I admittedly started to panic since everything I had read on line and all the videos I watched went much quicker than Sadie was. I was also so thankful for a dear friend on the phone talking me through the process.
The whole crew ready for the baby to arrive! After this picture we turned the lights off, Lola and Everly went to Queenie's place to watch a movie and everyone was on strict orders to be quiet. Sadie is our only wild goat and we worried that all of us being around might be delaying her progress. Lola is also terrified of pain in any form and poor Sadie's squeals as she pushed really upset her. So she was much happier in a different room as the birth got closer.
Finally during one the times Sadie was siting down her water broke and a little hoof emerged! As long as her labor was taking, and with some pregnancy issues she might have been exposed to I was so worried her baby was going to be born dead. Or maybe I was just preparing myself for that so it wouldn't be as upsetting. But as soon as the little hoof appeared it started kicking! It was so amazing to see!
And this is when I had to intervene. It had been about 5ish minutes (maybe longer-felt like an hour) and nothing was happening. Sadie was eating all the amniotic fluid that had just came from her ruptured waters completely oblivious to the hoof sticking out of her bits. I also knew one hoof wasn't a good presentation, so I donned my elbow length glove and went in. The baby goat's other hoof was curved around over its face kind of and the baby's head was down. So I got the other hoof out and straightened out the head and Sadie started to push again.
Here comes Avery!
Cute little slimy baby doe! All the kids had a job during the birth and Jacob wanted to be the one that took the newborn baby and dried/warmed them up. I thought he would change his mind once he saw how gooey the baby was since he can be squeamish, but he took the baby like a pro! Didn't bother him at all.
Just as quickly as we got the Avery swaddled a second much larger baby was on its way! We were so excited to get 2 babies!
mmmm placenta!
The kids overjoyed with our 2 new little babies!
Toby is a buckling on the left and Avery is our little doeling on the right.
It was such a neat experience for our family welcoming our first little baby goats. Everyone is counting down the days until our next doe is due this summer.
