R is for RELIEF

R is for RELIEF!!! For the last two days we've been dealing with BABIES. Our Little Visitor, Shihara decided to kid late Saturday night. After a very exhausting day working outside I was already asleep and Aaron came in and said "UM, honey, there is a goat out in the goat pen making wierd noses!" So up I get and go out there throwing on barn clothes indeed - Baby number one was NEARLY out but with only back legs. She was no problem. Out pops this precious little doeling (YIPPEEE!!!!)

Now, Shihara was so small we thought we were done. Baby gets cleaned up and we are trying to get her to nurse when Shihara plops down and starts hollering again. UHHH, NO WAY!!!! After what seemed like a very long time of her screaming (at nearly midnight or after now) I'm panicking - she's making no progress and I can't feel anything but a bony thing in the birth canal. Baby #2 is stuck. So I call and beg on the mercy of my neighbor the retired OBGYN nurse who said to call her if I ever need help. YEP - baby # 2 is wedged in

that birthcanal - NOT normal. she pushes, we massage and encourage. At one point it seems like the contractions stop. She rests and we give her her first baby hoping to stimulate some contractions. WE are back in business - Well, after what seems like ages the sack bursts and all we see is fur and bone. I am panicking, because we cannot find anything to get hold of to pull him out - Thankfully my neighbor is NOT! A few really strong contractions and baby #2 makes his entrance.

Baby #2 is a little buck kid. Both babies apparently will be gold though they look light brown now. Momma was EXHAUSTED and could hardly do anything so we cleaned up the babies, gave momma some Penicillin, dipped cords, and expressed some colostrum into the babies mouths hoping to get them to eat. Which begins part 2 of our saga. Shihara isn't making much milk. AARGH!!!! So we've spent the last day trying to get enough food down the babies throats to keep them alive. Buck is doing well REALLY - Doe isn't - well, wasn't. WE are supplementing with bottles to make sure she survives.

Here is doe kid shortly after birth and before baby #2 contractions begin. We are calling the girl Cupcake and the boy Scooter while they are here but they are due to go home on Saturday the 31st - we will miss them.

The best news of all though- both babies are blue eyes like their daddy, also it appears that their conformation is good - strait legs, long strait toplines. Shihara's owner said I did a good job picking out a herd sire (BIG SMILE! I cannot wait to see OUR babies out of him).