Joy in a time of change...

We are living through a period of extreme uncertainty but there are still many things that can do to bring joy and light into our lives. One of those major things that we got to experience was the miracle of birth. On Sunday we were over whelmed with unwavering love and happiness, I noticed that Zoey's stomach had dropped and she was not interested in leaving the barn and I was suspicious that she was in labor, so I grabbed, my book, my chair and my kidding kit and settled down to watch her labor progress. This labor was very different for her in comparison to last year, she was not extremely licky and she did not have any fluids prior to the presentation of the first kid, but as I watched her tail, I felt certain she was having contractions. I watched her labor for about 2.5 hours and my husband came outside to clean off our bowflex machine (our gym is closed) to give us more to work out with.

I was briefly distracted by helping him, when I saw Zoey lay down in her stall and start pushing. I walked up to her to check and low and behold she was pushing. I yelled to Rob that it was go time, and he ran into the house to quickly grab something to eat, and I stayed with Zoey. She pushed just a few times and she presented a beautiful heavily roaned chocolate buck with blue eyes. By this time, Rob heard Zoey's pushing and asked if we had a baby and I told him, yes a little buckling. By the time the little boy was dried and cleaned off Rob came out and video chatted his parents. They were both very enamored with the whole kidding process and not long after the first boy was born, Zoey began to strain again and I became worried, because normally after the first kid is born, the subsequent kids are born without much effort. Soon it was revealed to me why she was working on this second kid, it was a breech baby! After a few moments of effort a gorgeous dark chocolate doe with blue eyes and random white spots was born. By this time Rob had my parents on video chat and was showing them the kids. Out came the third and final baby which was a uniquely marked tricolor buckskin doe with blue eyes. We spent some time with the kids to ensure they got their umbilical cords clipped and dipped in iodine, received their selenium and vitamin E and that they all drank colostrum. The bucking got a little chilled during the delivery of his sisters, so we took some extra time to warm him up and dry him off, but he eventually started nursing and playing. Zoey successfully passed her placenta and mother and her three kids are happy and healthy. We are still working on names for these kids, leave your suggestions below!

These kids have provided joy through this period of fear and I hope they do the same for you.

Happy Goating!