Three Billy Goats Gruff

***WARNING!!! GRAPHIC PICTURES TO FOLLOW!!!***

Me and Miss E keeping Meadow company during labor

     Meadow finally went into labor last night around 5:30pm. The kids and I were inside having dinner and I could hear her lower, quieter cry happening more frequently over the baby monitor so I slipped away quickly to take a quick peak. I figured I had about two minutes MAX so I made a quick assessment, and just happened to witness her having a contraction. I had the same ah-ha moment that I had with myself each time I finally went into labor. For days I'd question "Is this it? Could this be the beginnings of labor?" But when it is finally really happening I just know, and at this moment I just knew.

Meadow having a contraction during early labor

    
     I called Mr. J at work and told him that I was finally certain that Meadow had gone into labor. While he was wrapping things up at work to come home for our first kidding EVER, I was trying to calmly allow the kids to finish eating their dinner so we could all bundle up and head out to see Meadow. I hadn't even put my dinner on the plate yet and at this point I was too excited to eat anyway so I just put all of the leftovers in the fridge, wiped up the kids and the table and left the dishes in the sink to do later. 
     Mr. J arrived around 6:00pm and by then we were already out with the goats. Meadow seemed to be progressing nicely and was getting more and more vocal. By 6:30 Miss D and Mr. T were cold and bored, so Mr. J took them inside and agreed to let me and Miss E stay out with Meadow. I will forever be grateful for his willingness to let me stay by Meadow's side throughout her entire labor. Miss E has been obsessed with kittens and puppies and how they are born for quite a while now, so she and I had already talked about her desire to watch the baby goats come into the world. 
     We sat right in the kidding stall with her petting and comforting Meadow and she licked and sniffed us in between contractions and "told" us all about the pain as she contracted. Miss E was a little grossed out by the "goo" that came out of Meadow with each contraction, but otherwise seemed quite happy to be with me during this special occasion. We had a great time guessing how many kids Meadow would have, what colors we thought they might be, and whether we thought they'd be boys or girls. We told Meadow that we couldn't wait to meet her babies and even though, as Mr. J likes to inform me often, goats do not speak English, I am certain that she understood us. 

Right before Meadow began to push

     At one point Miss E told me that this was going to be "the best day of her life!" We had quite the tender moment together when she asked me if it was going to be mine and I told her that while this day will always be special to me, my favorite day was the day she was born. Upon hearing this she declared that this would be her favorite day as a kid but as an adult her favorite day would also be the day she becomes a Mommy! You just gotta love that kid. She is so wise beyond her years and this conversation is actually quite typical of ones we have on a regular basis. I will always remember and treasure our special one on one talks. 
     By now it was probably 7:15 and even though we were bundled, had a heating pad beneath the stall  and a heat lamp all set up, it was definitely getting cold! I half expected Miss E to run out of stamina, but she was still insisting that she was not too cold and wanted to stay to see at least one baby be born. Mr J. was listening to everything over the baby monitor from inside with the other kids and kept coming out to check on things every 10 minutes or so. I honestly have no idea how he was able to stay away as much as he did, but I will forver be grateful for him doing so and allowing me to "steal his thunder" and stay right by Meadow's side throughout her entire labor. It was truly an awesome experience and I will never forget it as long as I live.               

Meadow pushing. You can see the tail if you look closely

     Within the next fifteen minutes it became quite obvious to me that Meadow was in "transition." She was clearly unable to get comfortable, had begun moaning, rather than simply crying, and was starting to push a bit with her contractions now. By 7:30 she began to push consistently with each contraction and that's when I really switched into "Goat Midwife" mode. I was cheering her on more and more, rubbing her neck in her favorite spot and encouraging her as best as I could all while making sure that I didn't forget to alert Mr. J over the baby monitor to come once I could see a baby getting ready to come out. 
     I honestly completely lost track of time at this point. it was as if the clock just stopped. If you have ever been in labor (or been part of one I imagine,) you know exactly what I am talking about. Anyway, she only pushed 3 or 4 more times before I could see something coming and I called over the monitor for Mr. J to come out NOW or he may miss it. He soon appeared, with camera in hand just in time for the bubble to emerge and then a quick moment of panic rushed over me when I realized that what I saw inside that bubble was a wagging tail! I looked to Mr. J and said "I think that's the tail, what do I do?" In his ever calming way he replied "just let her do it." 

Sweet William entering the world backwards!

     It was at this moment that I doubted our judgement in encouraging Miss E to be a part of this. Was she ready to handle the harsh reality of this not ending well? Was I? Ugh! Too late to worry about that now I guess. With the next contraction, Meadow pushed and moaned with all her might and as I watched her struggle I thought to myself, "there's no way I am just going to sit here and watch her try to do this on her own. What does he know anyway? He's never given birth!"  So, with her very next contraction, I just went for it. I grabbed that slippery little bubble, yanked along as she pushed, and within seconds the first baby was out. 

Meadow meeting Sweet William

     As I was trying to get him to breath and help Meadow dry him off, the second baby just fell right out in the correct position onto the hay. I grabbed him, set him next to his brother and we started drying him off as well. Then, moments later a third black bubble emerged and I announced excitedly, "oh my gosh, there's another one...and he's black!" He came out in position right into my hands without a hitch and I broke the sac, got him breathing and put him next to his brothers as I dried him off as well. 

Sweet William, Timothy & Sawyer

     I was so in awe of how tiny they were. I don't know what I was expecting, but THEY WERE TINY...and skinny!!! I was actually a little freaked out when I pulled out the first one that he might not be alive or fully developed because he was so small and skinny. The only indicator that I had to let me know he was indeed alive and well before I broke the sac was the tiny rapid heartbeat that I could feel against my hand. Now I know what a healthy, live, newly birthed Nigerian Dwarf kid looks like.

Meadow is such an attentive Momma!

     By now it was probably close to 8:30 and Meadow was busy licking her babies and crying a constant, happy cry in between licks. It was so cute to see her with them. I sneaked a peak at each one two or three times not 100% sure of what I was looking for, but from what I could tell they all looked like Bucks to me. Miss E was pretty quiet and obviously still absorbing all of what she had just witnessed. She joked about naming the little black buck Aspen (one of our other doe's) since he looks so much like her. I suggested the names Sweet Wlliam and Timothy for the two white boys since they look so much like Meadow Sweet, their mom. Sweet William is a meadow flower and Timothy is a meadow grass. 

Timothy in front, Sawyer snuggled up in the back

     Once things settled down and it became obvious that all of the babies had been born (the afterbirth was hanging out,) Miss E finally decided that she was cold and tired, so Mr. J took her inside with the others to get ready for bed while I stayed in the kidding stall to swoon over the new additions to our farm with their very impressive mama. I was not about to leave her until I was sure everything was fine and that both she and the babies were healthy and comfortable for the night. I got the little black buck to nurse right away, but the other two were not showing any interest. 

The white boys look just like their Mama.

     At one point a little before 10pm I went inside to console Mr.T, who was just not settling down for the night without me, and that's when Mr. J saw Meadow finally pass the afterbirth. He got her cleaned up and also freshened the hay in her stall, and was able to get the other two kids to nurse. 
     We left mama and her three little boys all snuggled together on the heating pad under the heat lamp for the night and then I finally made it inside for dinner and a hot cup of cocoa before bed. I was so tired that you would have thought I'd birthed the three kids myself! But, it was a good kind of tired and even though we left the baby monitor on in our bedroom and I definitely slept with one ear open all night, I slept much better knowing that all was well. I find it very fitting that Meadow had her babies on the first day of spring and I couldn't be more pleased with our first kidding experience. I can't believe we get to do this two more times within the next month. It's certainly going to be a busy spring here on the farm! Now, our next adventure will be learning how to milk. I can't wait!

Blissfully Yours, Mrs. J :)

Patience is a Virtue!

Doing our early morning rounds in our PJs.

     When we made the decision to start homesteading, if you can even call how this all happened a conscious decision, one of the major driving forces was our three young children. The bottom line was that we wanted to know what was in the food we were feeding our growing children and feel good about it at the end of the day. 

Patiently waiting to hold baby bunnies.

     We started raising chicks and expanding our garden before Miss E was even a year old and it quickly became evident that this lifestyle would have many more benefits than we had ever imagined! Mr. J planted, watered, weeded, and harvested with her right by his side and as a result she LOVED our fresh picked produce! She LOVED playing in the dirt and being outside. We raised our chicks from 2 days old and she LOVED them too; giggling with glee at the sigh of their tiny, fuzzy bodies. She squeezed them, and loved them to pieces (almost literally!) When they finally started laying eggs, she had so much fun helping us collect them, wash them, and in turn eat them! It was truly amazing to see how she was growing up with this as her norm. Eggs didn't come from the supermarket, they came from the "Bock Bocks!" How brilliant! She was automatically learning what had taken me a good 20 years to wrap my brain around. I loved it. In fact, we all loved it. Our simple life was just what the doctor ordered. 

Miss D and Aspen

Meadow Sweet, our first Doe due TODAY!!!

     Fast forward five years and add Miss D and Mr T to the brood, and we now have the makings of a full-blown farm on our hands! We still have a HUGE garden and our egg layers, but we have also added ducks for eggs, meat birds, pigs, goats, rabbits, and plan to add turkeys this spring. We also make a lot of our food from scratch. By utilizing our pantry and the two deep freezers and root cellar in our basement, we have been able to greatly reduce our grocery bill (I only shop every 3-4 weeks,) and eliminate many processed foods from our home. This probably would have sounded like a lot of work to me a mere 5 years ago, back when I was buying everything all natural and organic from the store, but I bet I never would have imagined that I would be able to spend LESS on groceries with a family of five than I did when we first got married nine years ago! 

Helping Daddy move the Rabbit Hutches.

     But for me, right now, the savings aren't even the biggest pay off. I simply LOVE being in my kitchen. I LOVE making healthy food for and with my children, and I LOVE that they enjoy it too. We have special cooking/baking days on a regular basis in our home and I LOVE that I can teach my children the skills of survival all while having a fun time! The teacher in me also loves all of the teachable moments we have. Counting, reading, fractions, and the list goes on, and on, and on... Overall, I think that our simple lifestyle is going to give my children the edge they will need to grow in to strong, capable, cooperative members of society no matter what they choose to do with their lives. The benefits are just too many to count! They are learning to love and appreciate the people and things we have in our lives, to take responsibility, to have respect for life as well as for our environment. They also understand where our food comes from. Green beans grow in the garden. When we eat meat, an animal must die. And on, and on, and on...
     I too, am learning more than I ever thought possible; from simple cooking skills, to animal anatomy :). Recently, I have begun to learn a little bit about having patience...

Miss E watching over Ivy's kits while I clean the cage.

     Awaiting the arrival of our first two litters of Satin rabbits was almost more than I could handle! As their due dates got closer the anticipation was so distracting that I found myself almost unable to do anything else but check on them all day. It was really rather childish and I was quite frustrated with myself. I obviously had not had much practice at exercising patience thus far.   
     And the thing is, it got even worse as our first goat's due date came and went. I spent almost an entire week checking on Meadow 6-8 times per day before Mr. J realized that he had miscalculated her due date which is actually today! I even put a baby monitor out in the barn so I wouldn't miss anything at night while Mr. J was at work. Well, the good news is that now I know I was worrying for nothing. 

Miss E and Prince Eric

Miss D and Ariel

     I also know that this WILL get easier for me. We have three goats that will kid this spring, and I fully intend to continue breeding the rabbits, so it's not like this whole "waiting for spring babies to arrive" ordeal will be a one time gig. I'm certain that this will get easier the more we do it. I have already begun to start directing my nervous energy in a positive way. I have begun "nesting," or what most people would call Spring Cleaning, in anticipation of the new, furry kids' arrival because I know that once those cute, little jumling beans arrive I will want to spend as much time with them as possible! We have already moved the rabbitry to it's new location and I have grand plans to deep clean the house from top to bottom. 

      So, maybe this is also a lesson in preparedness. That being said, I still hope we have pictures and the story of our first goat kidding experience to share sooner rather than later...
                                                

The new location of the rabbitry. It's kind of a hodge podge right now but we have big plans for many more cages like the ones Mr. J built in the front hung back to back under a large aluminum sided roof.

Patiently yours, Mrs. J :)

The Kits Have Finally Arrived!!!

The nest that I almost didn't see moving!

     This morning I did like I've done each morning since last Wednesday; my feet hit the floor and I rushed right outside to check on Ivy and Hazel who are due to kindle any day now. To my surprise Ivy's cage was strewn with fur and she was gathering it up, and had clearly been busy making a nest before I arrived.
     I was so excited that she was showing signs of kindling her first litter that I skipped back inside to tell the kids that I was certain that Ivy would be having her kits some time soon. We ate breakfast and got dressed, and about a hour later Miss D and I decided to go see if she was making any progress. I opened the nest box to show her the fur and quickly realized that the nest was moving! I couldn't believe it! I carefully uncovered the babies and counted 7.

Taking our first peek at Ivy's new kits.

     We immediately ran inside to get the rest of the family and I instructed Mr. J to bring his camera. Upon further inspection I counted one more kit, making for a total of 8 in her litter.

Ivy's Kits Born 3-3-13

 Ivy watching over her kits from afar.

   



   

     While we were all admiring Ivy's new babies, giving the new mam some love and a few special treats, and commenting on the amount of fur that she had pulled from her underside Miss D noticed that Hazel was carrying hay around in her mouth. I decided to check out what she was doing a bit closer and I noticed that she was also beginning to remove some of her fur and was very busy building a next in her nest box. Wow, this was almost too good to be true! By yesterday when it appeared that neither doe was preparing for kindling I had pretty much convinced myself that neither of then had gotten pregnant and had already planned to re-breed them with Pablo in 10 days. We went inside to give Hazel some privacy in hopes that her babies would arrive shortly as well.

Miss E decided to collect some of  Ivy's "extra" fur that fell on the ground outside her hutch. 

There's even more where this came from!

Mr. T collecting some of Ivy's fur like his big sisters.

      Another hour or so later Mr. J and Miss E went outside to check on Hazel and she too had kindled 8 kits! Since this is my first time breeding rabbits, I am not sure if this is typical, but I do know that rabbits have 8 teats so litters of 8 are ideal. Since both does are first time mothers I was assuming that their litters would be smaller.

Hazel's kits born 3-3-13

Hazel pulled out far less fur than Ivy, but somehow her nest still seems warmer, deeper, and a bit safer. 

A close up of Hazel's bald, blind little kits.

     So far both Hazel and Ivy seem to be very attentive mothers. They are not about to let us take a peek at their new kits without keeping a close eye on us and that's just fine with me! As a mother of 3, I completely understand and respect their concern. Although it has been tough to refrain from peeking at their kits all day, we have tried to give them the privacy they need to stay calm and warm. I am just tickled pink that both girls took at our first attempt to breed them. Maybe Mr. J was right. He keeps reminding me that the saying "they breed like rabbits" came about for good reason!  

Hoppily Yours, Mrs. J :)