I Get By With a Little Help......

Absolutely!  I get by with a little help from my friends.  Last night, my big ewe was due (due by the adjusted coop/blueface due date and not that Premier wheel that is four days short for the RDR club).  She had all the signs she was going...off food, grinding teeth, big..oh never mind you get the blah blah.  I hooked up the baby monitor I took out to the ranch and went for a cat nap in the truck.  About 11:30, she was pushing and I was glad to be there.

Then the unthinkable happened.  I'm always amazed at the "out-of-body" feeling I get when I just need to woman-up and get 'er done.  No time to wonder what I could have done different, no time to feel sorry for myself (though I wanted to and I really wanted to call my vet to come do the dirty work!) I did indeed get the lamb out and went right back in for number two...hoping and a praying that I could give this mom a live soul.  And so I did....prayers answered in the wee hours of morning, in a jug, in my barn at Rocking Dog Ranch, I got to experience a miracle.

This morning I called a friend...she who must be Laura Lawson's little sister because she has more sheep knowledge in her front lobe than I have in my entire brain.  She gave me a phone hug and told me things like "these things happen", "that baby was dead long before you began your pulling", "sheep do this sometimes", "no, no it was not because you sheared so late".  Stress + sheep = the unknown.  Funny, the second lamb that was pulled had a head back....certainly does make me wonder.  I feel better after my chat....thanks, Shannon!  Although I still feel like I have been hit by a truck and I know for certain that ewes does too.  As I left the ranch, mama ewe was up and working on her mothering. A live lamb needing attention plus the big dose of Banamine should help her.....too bad Banamine is not labeled for human use!

So what is up with lambs and heads back for delivery.  You work so dang hard to get the head forward...then grab the legs and start to pull...and that stinking head is right back where you started!  All this with slippery gloves, too big of hands, and a contracting uterus.  I had to get very creative.....and I need to slip a small rope into my birthing supplies so next time I can rope those feel and pull while I get the head forward.  Legs back don't ever seem to want to find their origin once put right....it is those stinking heads.

My son's girlfriend came out for a visit.  I wish the tax man, who thinks RDR is me just having fun with a hobby while eating bonbons and watching Jersey Shore, could have been there last night to clean up my mess.  He might have felt a little different about life on a small farm.  Wonder if I can get his number.....

Seize the Day!