Birth Story:
When we put the goats in at dark I could tell Ebony was in labor. She had a long string of discharge coming out and was acting off. My awesome husband helped string a heat lamp out to the barn. This winter has been the coldest one since we came to Oklahoma and the forecast for the night was 28 degrees F. I don't like the idea of a heat lamp in a barn (fire hazard), but I also don't like the idea of frozen babies!
Every hour I went out to check on Ebony's progress. At midnight I climbed out of bed and went out to find her pushing and ready to deliver. She took her sweet time as I sat shivering in the new hay I put out just for her. I was very grateful for the heat lamp and tried to stay under it with her as much as possible.
Around 2am I decided I had to help her. She had been in active labor with little progress now for 2 hours! I reached in and could touch the nose and found a little hoof. I pulled the hoof out slightly as she had a contraction. Then I found the other little hoof and pulled it when the next contraction hit. This was all she needed. The baby had tried to come out head and shoulders first and had blocked the opening. With the new adjustment of pulling the legs one at a time, the kid slid out on the next contraction.
He was a beauty! But he wasn't moving and barely breathing. I had a towel waiting so I quickly cleared his nose and mouth as best I could then I rubbed him in the towel to dry him so he wouldn't chill. Under the heat lamp, his mother inspected him and finished cleaning him.
The next baby was born within 10 minutes of the first. He slid out so fast and was so very tiny! He was also not moving. I picked up the lifeless body and knew I had to get air into him fast. I took him out and spun him as best I could- keep in mind he was the size of a kitten! The gunk flew out his mouth and I immediately wrapped and rubbed him in the towel. Ebony smelled him but didn't clean him like she did the first. I wondered if this meant he was not going to live.
I sat with momma and kids for about 30 minutes, waiting for them to eat their first meal. Arrow, the first born, drank from his mom, but Juneau, the second born, couldn't even stand up. It was just too cold so I wrapped them both up and took them in the house.
The next morning, I took the babies back out to Mom, but she wasn't well. She had not finished delivering the placenta like I thought she would and laid shivering. We rushed to the vet in an effort to save her! The vet said she had hypothermia and did a ultrasound to make sure their were no undelivered kids. With some shots of steroids and some medicine for infection, she pulled through, although she was very week for the next few days and gave very little milk. Both kids had to be bottle fed until she gained her strength. The vet also looked at Juneau and told us to keep up feeding him, but he was so tiny- just 1 pound 10 ounces- that he would be very fragile for a while.
Juneau didn't stand up for his first day, but was making attempts on the second day. His mother did not accept him for the first 2 weeks.
His name: Juneau, was given by my daughters because he was so small. Last year our runt was named, Alaska Star. So this year they named our runt Juneau because we have been studying States and Capitals.
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