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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Bad, Bad Blogger! (Baby pictures to make up for my absence...)

I am such a bad blogger. I haven't blogged in sooooo long, I nearly forget how to do it! Sorry to all - I didn't fall off the edge of the earth, nor did I get stampeded by a herd of roving water buffalo. I didn't even get hit by a bus. Instead, I had final exams. Three of them. It took a lot of studying time, and I was "sequestered" at my desk. Then, after I finished my last exam, I had roughly 24 hours before my parents arrived for a 2-week visit. You know what that means....cleaning house!!! So, I cleaned and organized (really, I did!) and finished up the final touches on the guest room, which Kelly and I had freshly painted in preparation for their arrival. So then, I spent 2 blissful weeks with my parents, not worrying about school or work or anything else. Just sharing the delight of their company, which I so rarely have these days.

Kelly and I so enjoyed their visit. They are tremendously helpful here on our little farm, and we manage to do things much more quickly when they visit because they are so willing to assist us! We put in more fencing than I care to remember, we planted 13 rows of potatoes (8 varieties!), we fed the animals, we laughed at their antics, we planted new plants, we weeded (especially my mother, who is an expert weeder), we transplanted 45 highbush cranberry shrubs (my father is an expert transplanter) and 5 young elm trees. We chased goats who got out of their pen, we sheared llamas, we even sheared llamas who had no desire whatsoever to be anywhere near the hand shears. I taught my mother how to use a drop spindle and showed her how to use the spinning wheel. My Dad and I taste-tested cider and strawberry lager. In short, we were very, very busy. I wish they lived just down the road so that we could visit often and we'd help them with their garden and they'd help us with our projects. But since that cannot be, we do the best we can with the short times that we spend together.

There will be numerous forthcoming blogs about our adventures, but for today, I would like to introduce our latest farm baby. Wilder was born last night to our Nubian doe, Laura. He was her first born. He was sired by our Nigerian Dwarf buck, Ramses (from Black Cat Creek Farm).

I was so sad my mother missed the birth of this little darling boy. She would have loved to be here for it. After we dropped my parents at the airport, we ran some errands and came home for supper. It was after supper that I ventured out to the barn to feed the chickens and close them up for the night. As I wandered into the barn, I saw Laura, with the telltale mucus hanging from her back end....she was in labor. I rushed back to the house to call Kelly and we went and sat in the barn, expecting a baby any moment. We waited, we talked, I read a book, we waited some more. Kelly went inside and I had the cell phone to call him. Then I went inside and he came out. She passed the mucus, she strained, she pushed, she stared at the ceiling, she lay down and stood up repeatedly, and nothing happened.

I went in to look up goat labor on the internet, to see if it was taking too long. Everything I read suggested 1 to 2 hours after the mucus had passed was normal. We hummed and hawed. Finally, about 5 hours after it began, I decided it was time for an internal check. I donned the shoulder-length gloves that we have for this purpose, and used generous lubricant. This was my first venture into the inside of a goat. I had read about it, studied pictures, learned the various ways a baby goat could be positioned and how to try to fix it. I felt like I could handle it, but I was still kind of nervous. It was about 11 pm.

About 3 inches into the canal, I encountered hooves. Two of them! Yay! I moved a little further in, and found a head. Yes, that meant they were front hooves. The baby was positioned normally. I stopped and let her continue. She pushed, she strained, she arched her back, she stared at the ceiling, she lay down, she got up....well, you get the idea. Nothing happening. So, around midnight, I made the executive decision: it was time to deliver a baby.

Kelly held Laura (much to her dismay), I reached in and grabbed little hooves and began to pull out and downward, Laura hollered like a stuck pig, I kept pulling, Kelly kept holding, and out popped a bouncing baby boy. I was amazed at how easy it was to pull him out. Yes, it took effort and a calm deliberate persistence, but he came out fairly quickly once I had the head out, and then Laura was all over him, licking and grunting in that way only mother goats do.

We toweled him off and within less than 10 minutes he was standing and nursing.
I was soooo relieved. I was afraid he would be stillborn after all that time, afraid that he was breach, afraid that he was not going to be healthy. None of those fears were warranted. He is a sweet bundle of joy.

I can't resist posting this picture of how I found them this morning, lying side by side in the lambing/kidding pen. He is so very tiny compared to her. His parentage makes him a mini-nubian. He is possibly smaller than Luna when she was born.
Since his mother's name is Laura, we named him "Wilder" after Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote the "Little House on the Prairie" series of books, which I enjoyed as a child. He is the little goat on the prairie. We welcome him to our farm.

I have blog awards to write about, I am behind on emails, I haven't read anyone's blogs, and I am woefully behind on everything else in life, so please forgive me if I haven't returned an email or if you think I've abandoned your blog. I haven't! I'm back, and will be catching up soon!

16 comments:

Sharrie said...

Good job with birthing that kid. Glad you could enjoy the time with your parents. It is precious time.

Jenny said...

How cute he is! Our goats are due to kid next month, and we are expecting mini-kids, too. LaMancha and Nubian both bred to the same Nigerian Dwarf buck. Can't wait to see them.
~Jenny~

Nancy K. said...

Welcome back, Claire! You've been missed!

It sounds like you had a fantastic visit with your parents. How wonderful that you're able to treasure their advise and help! Many grown children can't stand to let their parents "help" them. Yours sounds like a wonderful, loving family.

And your beautiful buckling! Wow! What a great assist!! He's so handsome. I've very impressed by your midwifery skills...

Gail V said...

Cute cute baby goat. Great story, and so nice to hear about times with your parents.
My mom and dad helped me so much when we moved to this farm place, and I'll always treasure their touches here.
Gail from LittleRedOakFarm

Gail V said...

Cute cute baby goat. Great story, and so nice to hear about times with your parents.
My mom and dad helped me so much when we moved to this farm place, and I'll always treasure their touches here.
Gail from LittleRedOakFarm

IsobelleGoLightly said...

There you are! I'm glad little goats don't have to take exams like humans do! The new baby boy is very cute! We are getting a new King here at our farm and I'm not sure I'm going to like that because I don't know what he is! Goat kisses from Isobelle.

Alison said...

Welcome back! I hope your parents scheduled some recovery time after all that busy-ness chez vous.

Congrats on the bouncing baby boy. Is he bouncing yet? I made my first-ever visit to the goat farm where Miss Chef has been putting in some hours. There were several goat babies there, and they were adorable, with their extra-long ears.

Hope things are going smoothly now that all the excitement is out of the way!

JK said...

Good to see you back to blogging :)
Congratulations on the new baby. He is precious!
Sounds like a wonderful time with your parents. Glad you were able to enjoy quality family time after finals.

Unknown said...

So glad to hear from you! I remember when I was finishing my MA in history....it was like tunnel vision when it came to reading those books & writing those huge papers!! Glad it is over! Are you done? or do you have to take summer classes? Beautiful baby by the way!! What variety of potatoes did you plant?

Karen said...

So glad all is well and you had a great visit. My family would love to come out to see all your animals - let me know if/when...

Unknown said...

Welcome back and congratulations! Job well done, Claire and Kelly. And what an adorable baby! I'd want to hold him all day.

I did miss you, but I am also glad you had such a wonderful visit with your folks.

Nancy in Atlanta

angie said...

so glad you are back! I've missed your posts!

Michelle said...

Sounds like the most legitimate of reasons to neglect the blogosphere. Glad to have you back, though!

Katherine Dunn/Apifera Farm said...

Never apologize for living instead of blogging!

Congrats on your first adventure into the insides of the womb. It's one more lesson - glad yours turned out so well. Our vet told us 2 hours max and go in...but I learned the dangers of going in [infection] so I'm so glad of your outcome! He's adorable...

diane said...

wow- welcome back! you delivered a goat? holy kid! ok-that was lame.

frolicnfibers said...

Wonderful to have you back Claire, and congrats on your new addition! Wilder is sure a cutie! I've been a "bad bad blogger" too, and I'm bound and determined to rectify that today...thanks for the encouragement!