March 9, 2022
Holy Moly what a few days! Goldie had her babies on Sunday, March 6th. They share a birthday with our cat, Snowball! She was due the next day with twins, but she surprised us with triplets! I thought she was delivering the placenta when another baby popped out! I couldn’t believe it! This little girl was substantially smaller than her siblings, and we had to really rub her to get her breathing ok. I was worried that she wasn’t going to make it. We decided to name her Hope, and we were really hoping she would get stronger and survive. My daughter worked with her and got her to nurse, and from that point on she kept improving. Now, just a few days later, she’s running and jumping around. We were so pleasantly surprised that she had ALL girls! They are all so sweet and mild-mannered. Goldie is the most amazing mom! She is truly the perfect momma goat! I’m so, so proud of her! She is incredibly attentive and nurturing, yet doesn’t mind when you come in and hold her babies. She just needs to be able to keep eyes on them all.
Fast forward to Tuesday, March 8th….. I could tell that Lucy was in the first stages of labor. She was very restless and incredibly vocal. She kept pawing the ground and was visibly uncomfortable. She didn’t lie down like she did the day before. When she did, she got right back up again. She also wanted me around her constantly. If I was around it helped her settle. I spent the night with her Sunday night because I thought maybe she would have them then. She didn’t, and I got maybe 45 minutes of sleep. I stayed with her most of the day when she had the babies. When I knew she was close, I called the kids down to come watch. Around 1:15 pm she started pushing. Within a couple of minutes, she had her first kid. Her birth was SO much faster than Goldie’s. Goldie had her kids roughly 20-25 minutes apart. I could barely clean off one kid before the next one came with Lucy. She also had triplets, which we were expecting. Hers were so much bigger than Goldie’s. A full pound bigger each! No wonder she looked so much larger than Goldie! We ended up with two more girls and one boy from Lucy. The little boy is stunning! They all have black boots, but he also has black spots around his eyes and black ears. One of his ears is floppy, which I think is absolutely adorable! I hope it stays that way, but it will probably eventually perk up. I don’t know how in the world we are going to be able to part with these babies! I really don’t know how people do it. It’s going to be SO hard! We all fall instantly in love with them. You feel especially close to them when you help bring them into the world. I can’t wait until all the mommas and babies can go back out into the yard with the other goats, so that everyone can meet!