It’s going to take more than one post to bring y’all up to date but I’m trying to get DD2 down for her nap so I’m going to try to get everything on here!
Snowflake’s 2018 Kidding: 4/7/18
Wow! What a night!! Snowflake progressed more awkwardly than I expected and that triggered red flags for me. I kept feeling like I needed to be with her, so I was. I’m sure glad that I didn’t just leave her to manage on her own.
When her water broke at 12:29am, she’d had a bubble out for about 20 min with no sign of feet or a head. DS has stayed up and gone out with us (so he didn’t bother his sisters we took him!) He gave up fighting sleep and the cold and asked to come in. DH brought him in and I stayed with Snowflake. I also started reviewing things on my phone.
Snowflake literally had every positive labor sign but her contractions were never regular and her pushes were infrequent and unproductive. What really got me was that she started fluttering her eyelids with contractions and it almost looked like she was seizing (trembling) but it was an obviously severe pain and nothing like I’d seen in a delivery before.
DS was finally asleep so DH could help me. I entered her and was up to my wrist before I felt anything. I did feel movement though so the kid was still alive. I found what was definitely a trunk but I couldn’t define landmarks easily to figure out if it was a chest, butt, or side. I couldn’t trace to find a neck that led to a head and I could tell I was at one end or the other as my tracing found a set of legs. I tried to identify the tail to verify that I had the rear but couldn’t. I ended up just hooking both of the hocks with my index finger and pulling the kid out in one smooth motion. I frantically cleared his face and started drying him with a towel and put him in Snowflake’s face. She promptly started cleaning me and the white buckling like the awesome mama she is!
DH took over drying him (and got his weight) when Snowflake didn’t get up right away. She did have true contractions and was pushing, at that point. It was like her labor had stalled with the dystocia (very scary!) I was getting ready to go in again when a nose finally appeared. As she pushed, I immediately ripped the sac off and cleaned his face. I was sick when I saw that one was a buckling. His markings were stunning, obviously some shade of buckskin and random white. I didn’t have long to focus as another sac was appearing almost immediately after the second was out.
DH had put the first kid that was mostly dry in the warming barrel. He was very vocal and was trying to get to his mama. DH took the second kid so I could catch the third. The sac started out without evidence of a kid again. Snowflake kept pushing though and didn’t seem to be struggling so I gave her a sec and a rear end appeared! Needless to say, I hooked the closest hock and got that kid out and cleared its face as fast as possible. (She was not having trouble pushing the last kid out but I didn’t want to delay since it was a backwards presentation and the head wasn’t out.)
DH and I worked vigorously to dry the last two while we could tell the placenta was already making its way out. I finally looked and the third kid was a Doeling! I shouted for joy! We had to wait until she was dry to tell what color she is, as she’s very unique and I had to do some research too. She’s red gold with a white poll and minimal white (tail tip and 2 small spots on her right side.)
We got them all dried off and Snowflake had laid back down and started shaking. She hadn’t tried to push her placenta out at all and I needed colostrum for the kids. DH was weighing the third kid so I grabbed my 10ml of Karo syrup out of my kidding kit (nutridrench is preferred but I’d pulled anything that I didn’t want to freeze out and put back in the house. The karo was placed in there for emergency and as something that if it froze, I’d just throw it away.) I had to force Snowflake to start on it but then she greedily slurped it up. She was up like she’d had an energy drink!
I milked some colostrum and gave each of the kids 1-2 ml to get them started. I also changed out the wet bedding. DH started getting the kids to try to nurse. I came to the house to find a coughing human kid that was on the verge of puking. After I got DD1 situated again, I grabbed some of DH’s old socks to make tiny sweaters for our little additions.
When I got back to the barn, the second two kids had nursed. DH kept working with the first while I used the scissors from my kidding kit to cut leg holes and make sure the boys could pee in their sweaters. After everyone had donned their new threads, we gave Snowflake a bit of feed and milked her again to syringe another 2ml into the first kid.
(Somewhere in there DH dipped their navels in iodine too. I also did a quick sweep at some point after the arrival of the third kid to make sure she was done.)
Everyone seemed pretty content and we were worn out. We decided to try to get a few minutes of sleep then check on them again. Snowflake still hadn’t passed her afterbirth when we left but she’d positioned herself directly in front of the kidding barrel opening and was quietly talking to her kids.
It was after 3 before DD1 was comfortable enough to try to sleep and I was stuck on the loveseat with her. (At some point while I was “sleeping,” I turned the tv on and got kicked in the face while she was trying to get “comfortable” and knew that she kicked me.) I was back out at the barn a few minutes after 7. That made for a very short night!
Snowflake is a FF, kidded on Day 147 with triplets, 2B/1D. Sire is Kyeema Ridge Michael. (His dam is Kyeema Ridge Niamh and his sire is Kyeema Ridge Hollywood and both are on their website. Her udder is awesome this year!)
Birthweights
K4-White buckling-2.4#- Alvin
K5- Buckskin/White buckling-2.4# -Theodore “Theo”
K6-Red gold doeling- 1.9#- “Ariel”
4/8 weights at one day old
Alvin: 2.8
Theo:2.8
Ariel: 2.4
Alvin is the trouble maker that took forever to nurse properly. We didn’t know if he was stunned or just being a boy. I still haven’t visualized him nursing but he was bouncing around with a full belly this morning. I’ll continhe to keep a close eye on him as a precaution.
Alvin and Theo are named after the Chipmunks by DD1. Lol She says Theo is lovable. Alvin will be wethered. I’ve talked to the breeder and she and I both agree that we are going to grow out and use Theo and see how he does. Snowflake’s udder looks really good and his sire’s side is very impressive.
Now for the pics of this group...immediately after birth.
These are Alvin. The first pic is my hand showing how small he is.
DH took a pic of me cleaning Alvin off. (Nala is supervising from the chair that DS was hanging out in while he was waiting on kids.)
Theo is in front of Snowflake. I’m cleaning off Ariel in a towel.
Alvin trying to stand and Theo by Snowflake’s nose.
These pics are after the sweaters. We didn’t get any good pics of Ariel before but didn’t realize that until the next day. This is Ariel. She also has a white tipped tail.
Alvin in his sweater.
All three in the warming barrel when I got to the barn just after 7. They were not quite five hours old. Alvin is standing, Ariel is in the foreground, Theo is in the back.
DD1 with Ariel in her coat! She’s absolutely in love with that goat kid!
We had Snowflake on the milkstand yesterday morning to try another way to get Alvin to nurse. I also wanted to see what the other two did. Theo laid down while I was taking pics. I’m including to show his coloring.
I’m holding Alvin and Ariel while DD1 gets Theo situated back into her coat. Didn’t want them falling on the milkstand while we switched out to see what Ariel would do.
Cont’d on next post!
