Welcoming... 2 little Whiss copies... =]

:clap: :leap: :hi5:

:birthday:

etc etc etc

Embarrassed to say that my camera ran out of battery half way through the birth...

should i start by telling what she had, or by telling the long story? *ponders* Okay okay I'll TELL!!!

:kidred: :kidred:

does that make sense? Is that like, amazing, or is it, like, amazing???

Oh and, they both have lovely teeth. I suppose that's what happens when you're born 10 days late, isn't it, little ones?

They chose the snowiest day of February to be born on... well it wasn't SUPPOSED to snow. I went out at 0230 and there was no snow. Woke up at 0800 (my bro did the 0500 check) ...and there were 2 inches on the ground!!!

No babies... no goo. No nothing, in fact. I had seen her have contractions the previous night... just a few, off and on, mostly off, but occasionally on. This morning she was squatting to pee - but not. Pooping about every 5 minutes, she's got to have some kind of prize to be the holder of the poopiest-goat-record.

ima post this before my computer spazzes... and then continue

 

Ok so... to continue!!!

From about 1015 I sat with her... watching her squat, watching her lie down and chew her cud and groan and chew her cud some more. Finally I lost my patience, at about 1130 I copied the vet's actions, lubed up and felt for her cervix. Holy cow it was entirely open, and there was a sack, complete with little feet, behind it. But she was not going into labour, despite the few contractions, and I was like "wth???"

So I phoned the vet to ask his advice - whether to go in, burst the sack and deliver the babies, or wait, or what?

He asked me whether I had ever experienced milk fever in an animal at birthing. I said... no, but I had heard about it. He suggested that I inject her with 100ccs of calciject (if it was 30-3 suspension, and 1/2 calciject 1/2 water if it was 40-3 suspension) and then drop into the clinic to pick up some oxytocin to help her contract... and if she hadnt kidded 1 hour from then, to go in and deliver the babies anyway, as they HAD to be born.

So... I trundled back off to the barn, armed myself with a massive 10ml syringe (ya I know, not very large, but heh, I dont DO 100cc injections!!!) and started injecting Whisper with the solution. Thankfully I keep an unopened bottle of calciject in case of emergencies!!!!!!!!!!!

2 injections in... she SCREAMED

I stopped. I was like O.O wth did it hurt THAT much??? turned around, and saw a sack protruding out of her hind end. No goo. Just a sack, like, filled with water. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

so I obviously investigated, she leapt to her feet, and I found 2 rather large hooves. So I pulled on one, which, to me, is a fairly obvious thing to do when you find a big hoof staring you in the face. haha After lots of squealing on Whisper's part, a few pushes, and me tugging gently but forcefully on the hoof, a nose came into view. It took a while for her to actually give birth, i didnt want to rush it... I was just gently pulling as she contracted, and easing my fingers around the nose to help open her up a bit - oh, and wiping the nose off with a towel, too.

And then, VOILA! A baby slid gracefully into my arms and I deposited it on a towel and helped her dry it off - and discovered it was a giiirl!!!

I then phoned my brother... who appeared to tell everyone in the entire neighbourhood that Whisper was kidding... who all flocked up to the barn to observe

 

It's a good thing that Whisper has absolutely no fear of people/observers/children/everything.

let's see... we had...

my brother, his wife, his 3 children
the other 3 children who are homeschooling with his children
(so that's 6 kids aged 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 12)
my dad
my mum
my brother in law
and i THINK that's all? What, 11 people OTHER than me all crammed into a 2metre square kidding pen with a goat and her newborn baby and lots of goo? hahahahahahha

Anyway, she started cleaning off the little girl - which Jessica announced should be named Snowball or something because of the weather. I suggested Icicle, kind of half-heartedly, which she and Ritchie pounced on and so... that's her name now...

Then she squawked again and out came another sack... and then the start of a 3rd sack, inside which you could see a little hoof. I had a towel all ready to catch the baby on to avoid it landing in the piles of poop she had made ready for the birth... and then she proceeded to lie down.

OUT came the baby's head and a hoof, inside the sack. So I popped the sack, started cleaning off the face and realised there was only one hoof. So I let my brother continue to clean off the little nose (while warding off millions of children at the same time) while I took off my coat and prepared to investigate...

The other foot was WAY back but I managed to get it... and gently slid Whisper's other daughter into the world. Smaller than the first, but still a decent size.

I must say, they are goooorgeoooouuuuus!!!! I do love baby goats!

I had to get 'em sitting down to drink from Whisper - her udder is so MASSIVE they cant find the teats otherwise, ahhahahha. And they kept choking because there was so much milk... didnt even make a dent in one side by feeding both of them! YIKES! She could like, raise an army...

My dad then helpfully suggested from the other side of the pen "Ricicle and Frosties!!!" which the kids obviously pounced on.

So now they are named Icicle and Frostie... and Frostie has a blue string tied around her neck to identify her for now hehe.

I oughta take out some scales and weigh them... etc. I'm so happy she had them safely. And obviously, ecstatic that they are does!!!

And obviously I'm going to have to source photographs, I know I know I KNOW!!!

LW

 

oo I love them!

oh and I milked out TWO LITRES (3.5 pints) of colostrum from just ONE side of her udder - and I didn't even milk it out completely! I've frozen it for future emergencies

Whissy keeps tripping over kids and every time she does, they go WAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! at the top of their lungs, so funny.

Oh and my new vet is great. He called me just an hour or so ago to see how it was going with Whisper and to make sure she was okay - he said he was driving past our place and could stop by to see her if she was still in troubles. But thankfully I was able to tell him everything had gone well - but it was good of him to call!!!

I have a FEW pics on my camera - before it died - that I will upload now.

LW

 

ok here are a couple of pics... including the weather!!!




and little Icicle (no pics of Frostie yet!):

 

I put more baby pics in the photographic section =]

and no, their eyes are not blue. They might be bluish tinged but that always goes away in a few days and then their eyes are golden.

Whisper just LOVES em... she keeps tripping over them and whenever she does, they go "meep!!!" and then, Frosties is hysterical, when I scratch her back just above her tail, she falls over *giggles*

it's like *tickle* *fall* *tickle* *fall* *meep!*

=]

LW