At lunchtime I thought I would go out and check on everyone. Well, Maggi gave me that look - the scared s**tless look that happens when the Mother is not sure if her body is going to explode. I got her in the pen I made for her and then spent the next three hours trying to keep her in the pen. As her contractions grew closer, her wild eyes grew bigger. I grab my chair and started to give her slow breathing patterns. Then I tried to maintain eye contact with her to have her track my breathing. Just then, her mother (Esmerelda) in the farest pen started crying out to her daughter. Then in the pen next to her mother was her grandmother (Eboney)and she joined in. Soon the barn was filled with the ear piercing sounds of concerned relatives. My Great Pry dog had enough of the noise and left the barn.
After two and half hours of hard labor Maggi was still unable to push the baby out. I went and put on my rubber gloves and told her that she had five more minutes and then I was going to have to help before we reach the point of no return. Just then I viewed two small white hoof buds and a tiny nose. I thought maybe things would be O.K. but with the next push I saw another foot. That spells trouble. Either I had a set of twins trying to come out at the same time or I had the baby turned in a way that it would never clear the birth canal. Either way - I had to act NOW !
I placed Maggi against the wall (she was really not happy about that) and put my knee on her neck so she would not move. With the next contraction I pushed the hoof back in that was the last to appear and then grabbed the two hoof buds and pulled. Out came the little boy with a blink of the eye. I quickly climbed over the pen gate and Maggi took over. She quickly started cleaning him but he wanted to NURSE.......
Before she could even get his face cleaned off he was nursing up a storm. What a champ.
Twenty minutes later he was clean, dry and well feed. Now down for a nap. Maggi was not letting me get anywhere near him -- so no pictures yet -- but I keep trying. He is very active and very social. He has greeted the twins in the next pen and has kissed the dog many times. All in all a GREAT DAY !! I think I need a shower and a strong cup of tea.
4 comments:
Oh my gosh..what perfectly beautiful babies!!!! I just think there is nothing cuter than a baby angora goat..nothing! All baby animals are cute but...
lucky you!!! I won't have any baby animals around here but chickens and maybe rabbits until fall this year..sigh. Mona took forever to settle into a breeding. Oh well. BUT...you never know what I may bring home..haha.
I really loved reading about the birth of all the baby goats! (Yah, I'm a city slicker and have no idea what it must be like.)
What sweet babies!
Congratulations on all the new babies, and sorry about the loss of the little dude. Beautiful photos and great retelling of the exciting times you've been having at the farm!
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