Monday, January 28, 2008

One Miracle and Two More Bucklings

Yesterday was a quiet day. I cleaned and repacked the birthing kit. We took Windy over to visit Wendy and Ms. Fran. They were in love! Already have a buyer for Windy. A couple from Tarboro are buying him to raise for a breeding goat. We kept checking on DiDi and Sammi during the day and they were just fine. Nothing seemed to be going on. I brought Windy inside last night since it was cold. We kept going out to check goats and milk Sonya for Windy's bottle. At midnight I am going out in my nightgown to milk and what do I see.. DiDi standing there with a BIG head hanging out of her and its upside down with no legs in sight. I tried to find the feet and couldn't so ran back to the house to get the birthing kit and wake William up. Ran back to DiDi, put on some gloves with OB gel pour allover them and me. Reached in and couldn't find any feet. Cleaned the kids mouth and nose so it could at least breathe and ran back to see where William was. He hadn't even woke up when I flip the light on and screamed at him. He sure heard me scream at him the second time! We rush back out to DiDi who is in a lot of pain trying to push this kid out and its legs are caught. William gloves up and tries to find a foot. After a few minutes he finds one and as he tries to work it out he sees it doesn't match the direction of the way the kid is laying. Its the foot of a second kid and its trying to push its way past the first kid! William trades places with me and holds DiDi while I go in and push the second kid back down the birth canal so we can try to free the first ones feet. I get it pushed back and we trade places again. William is trying to free feet and I am holding DiDi and praying as hard as I can. I talked to God, St. Christopher, my dad, mother, and every angel I know. After about 25 minutes William frees the feet and pulls the first kid. By this time we thought he had stopped breathing. William actually tossed the first kid over in the corner so he could work on saving the second kid and DiDi. I am holding her and she is screaming. The second kid pops out and I start cleaning and drying and DiDi starts licking it. The first kid starts crying so we grab him and start drying and cleaning. We wrap them up to get them warm, clean up the mess and I go get DiDi some warm water and molasses. She drinks it all up and eats some feed. We take the bucks (yes bucks again) inside by the woodstove. Finish cleaning them up and put sweaters on them and wrap them in blankets we warmed by the stove. They are weak. William makes some strong coffee and we add molasses to it, get the medicine dropper out of the birthing kit and give the smallest one a little jump start. He perked right up and even tried to stand up. William goes and milks DiDi and we give the smallest one a bottle. He drinks and falls asleep. The biggest one has congestion so William picks him up by his hind legs and lets the fluid drain out. After some yucky stuff drains out and we clean his nose and mouth again we give him some of the coffee mixture. He perked up too and we waited a few minutes and gave him a little more. They were starting to warm up and the big one started sucking on the bottle. Got them both fed and bed down in front of the stove, go check on DiDi and clean up the afterbirth. She is resting but could tell she wanted her babies. Come back inside to hear Windy crying for his bottle so back out to milk and feed him. We lay down to get a couple hours sleep only to have the boys wake up hungry. They are eating really well now and resting good. I haven't taken them back out to DiDi yet as its still cold outside and DiDi is very very tired. I cleaned her up with betadine and put antibiotic cream inside. Massaged her uterus as its still swollen and she is up walking and eating. Will take her boys out to her this afternoon. Out of all the animals I have helped deliver and even out of the human babies this is the hardest one I have seen or dealt with. DiDi was a trooper. She knew we were there to help her and let us do what we had to do. I thought we would lose all 3 of them last night but a miracle took place and I am very thankful.The photo was taken last night. I will take a better one today. The first one weighed 6 lb and 8 oz and the second one weighed 4 lb 8 oz. The first one actually looks like Nitro but he wasn't in TN. LOL The second one looks like DiDi. He has the long legs and face. Going to try to get a little rest as Sammi is showing signs of labor again. I think she heard the noise last night and decided she would just keep her babies and not deliver! I know I am behind on a couple of MeMe's and awards. I haven't forgotten I just been kinda busy. Hope to return to our regular schedule soon.(whatever that is :)

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh my gosh! what a story! thank goodness you woke up. i'm so glad everyone is okay. i bet didi loves you like 298347982739487 times more now. xoxo

Baba said...

Hi Peggy, wow... what a birthing story..I am so glad you and William got the kids delivered safely..Their little faces are so cute...a great job well done by the two of you.
I think Windy is a doll baby..The people taking her will be pleased..You deserve a nap today after all of the night time Miracle..
Hugs, Baba

Lib said...

Hi peggy,
A job well done. So Thankful to hear you got a Miracle. :o) I love hearing about your place, I still want to come back as one of your animals.:o) lol I know I would be LOVED,WANTED,NEEDED and WELL CARED FOR!!;o) You are so Special.Wm. too.:o)
I just don't know how anyone could be mean to animals or humans.
Hope ya'll can get some rest.
Have a good week.
Blessins',Lib

amelia said...

HOLY S***!!!!! How do you do it?????

I was on the edge of my seat reading this post, thank God it had a happy ending!!

What gorgeous babies!

Rosie said...

Wow! That sounds like a rough night. Sorry she didn't give you a doe--I was really hoping to see a doeling out of Didi with her pretty head. It would be a really good idea to give her a series Biomycin injections since you had to go in. Better safe than sorry.

Tossing Pebbles in the Stream said...

Being a midwife to animals is not always pretty. I have had to push calves heads back in so that I could locate and position the feet correctly. How the cow bellowed!

Sadly, I have also cut a calf up in three pieces to get it out of the cow! Afterward the vet said if I had put the cow on her back and rocked her back and forth the calf might have come free. Right! One of those times a wife might have come in handy.

Glad there were two of you to sort out all the legs and deliver the little fellas.

Pray that my piglets come problem free!

Cathy said...

From having been around and helping my pedigree cats kitten I know that sinking feeling when things are not going to plan

And then the exhilaration when its all over and they are sleeping peacefully

Good nights work Peggy - hope all the others deliver easily

Cathy

Phill said...

Are you KIDDING me?! What a story!!! Wow. So many babies around that place! Really amazing and inspiring story. And adorable little ones. Can't wait for more pics!

Marci said...

You did a great job Peggy!!! I will have to post a link to this post in my homesteading blog. I talked about this very type of thing. =) They are darling.

Hope said...

Lordy Mercy, Peggy! It wore me out just reading this! So glad everything turned out good and I'm hoping the little ones and DiDi will be okay. I know you and William are the best animal parents ever. I don't think I could do all that ya'll did last night.

I have a quetion. What are the benefits of the molasses? Am I just being dense here?? :)

Love and Hugs,
Hope

Rosie said...

Hey Peggy...I'm so sorry Didi is being such a nudge--you know--she's real sweet but she's not the brightest bulb in the pack. But, I left a message on Alice's blog--she has the sick little girl I told you about--she should be coming over to introduce herself hopefully.

Unknown said...

Bless your heart, the two of you had quite a night. I am just glad that sammi didn't decide to have hers at the same time. I am anxious to hear what Miss Fran thinks of the little ones.

Good Job.

Rosa said...

Oh Peggy! I am sooooo proud of you! Congrats on the new babies! I bet you're a little tired yourself. So glad you were up at midnite!! Lordy!! How scary that all must have been. You sure know your stuff!! (Poor William being woken like that--giggle.) So happy you have a good outcome. So exciting!! xoxo

Rachel said...

Oh, what a busy night Peggy!! I'm so glad that everything worked out and all 3 are okay!!

Mary said...

Peggy,

I have helped my share of animals birth, but never goats. My first experience was when I was ten and a cow was in trouble. There was no one home but my uncle and me, so I was elected to give a hand. A miracle occured that day as well and that is what I named the bull calf.

Thanks for sharing this beautiful story.

Blessings,
Mary