HELP! Goat in labor

If she's been having noticeable contractions for that long, something probabaly needs to be done to help her. Can you get a vet? Have you been able to watch any videos or see other goats go through labor, so you know for sure that what you're seeing is contractions? If you are sure she's contracting and unable to get a vet, can you very carefully try to reach in a little further and see if you can feel a kid? It may not be positioned correctly, and that could be why labor is not progressing. You will want to trim your nails very short, and thoroughly scrub and disinfect your hand and arm up to your shoulder. I like to wash the doe's vulva, too,, so I'm not pushing dirt in along with my hand. You will probably need lube. Vaseline or cooking oil should work, if you don't have anything else. You may have to help manually dilate her to be able to get your hand through. You can do that by lubing up your hand and rubbing two fingers around the hard ring of her cervix. You should feel it relax and start to get more open feeling. When you find a kid, try to visualize what you're feeling. Ideally, you will be able to sort out a head and two front legs that belong to the same kid. Or two back legs. Just be sure all the parts belong to the same kid. Make sure you move slowly and very gently and carefully. If you have to pull a kid, don't tug or make any sudden movements. Try to work with her contractions. I hope everything is OK! Take a deep breath!

Good morning my goat friends! First - momma and 4 babies are doing fine! I have a dozen years experience with goat births and have had to pull many babies (my own and other peoples goat kids) over those years. But, last night was a first (we are always learning new things). I called my neighbor who is a person nurse and has even more experience than I do with goats. She came over and went in to check, as I had. One baby had finally moved up a little while I was waiting for her.

She talked me through what was happening: she had seen this one other time with a doe. When a doe gets older and/or has had many births with multiples (this girl has had quads twice in the past and triplets several times), sometimes the uterus gets wrinkly and this was that case. She had to slowly/carefully work through the wrinkles to actually get to the baby (she could feel it through the folds once it moved a little - I couldn't feel it all but was, of course, concerned about hurting momma so I wasn't willing to work harder at it until I had someone more experienced helping me).

The first baby had it's front feet down, sideways and stuck under the pelvic bone - it would have never delivered without help. Thus, why I get so little sleep during kidding season - always watching my girls so I'm there when they give birth. Sound familiar to you all?

Momma was very tired by that point, over two hours of steady contractions, so we helped her with all four kids, although the other three were ready to go after first baby was pulled. We used a catheter to get the lube deeper in and behind the babies which helped as the canal was very dry. It was a 3 hour and 45 minute process and I really expected dead kids but they were raring and ready to go when born. They are going gangbusters this morning and momma seems to be fine. I'll be keeping a close eye on her and giving her calcium and other helpful support. And, this was her last breeding after this - she will be officially retired after raising these kids.

Hopefully this information will help someone else in the future.

Yes, I would have called the vet if my neighbor had not have been home. Out here a vet would take an hour or longer to get here so I was so grateful my RN was home.