Day by Day

On Tuesday "Da Bomb" exploded.  lol.  

Lady Jane had her lambs, and they are both healthy and doing well so far.

 

But it took a lot to get them to that point, believe me.

 

The first one, a ram lamb, was born with no trouble at all.  Lady Jane's milk didn't "let down" right away though, so I had to bottle feed him while she was working on getting the other lamb out.  After trying for about 20 minutes, she didn't seem to be getting on, so I decided to check things out.   The lambs head and one foot were showing.  After a quick feel, my suspicions were confirmed - his right leg was back.

 

Okay, swell.  After a phone call to a friend to ask what I should do, I tried to pull him out as is.

 

I tried.  I really did.  But the lamb was quite stuck.  He wouldn't move forward, and, when I tried to push him back in so I could reach in and pull the other leg around in to position, he wouldn't move backward.

 

So, back to the house for another phone call...

 

At this point, I was starting to panic.  My brother was in town with a friend, my dad had jury duty, and my mom is in a wheelchair.   It was just me. 

 

The Lord got a flock of SOS's from me that day - save our sheep! lol.  Well, I think it's funny;)

 

We finally thought to call our neighbors.  The dad and one of the girls came over right away, and within minutes the dad had pulled the lamb out.  He had the extra oomph that I didn't - I like to think I "loosened" the lamb for him, rather like a jar lid;)

Although barely alive, after being swung upside down to clear his lungs, the lamb was trying to get up and nurse.

 

Praise the Lord!!!

 

I am so thankful for our neighbors - they're more experienced than I am and I can always count on them to lend a hand when I need help. 

 

I still have a problem, though...the first lamb thinks that he has two mommas - me and Lady Jane.   Unless I want to bottle feed him, which I don't, I need to slowly stop feeding him with the syringe and make him nurse on Lady Jane more.  He's a lazy little guy, so this could take some doing;) 

Bottle feeding is way over rated - it may sound cute and fun, but I was up several times the first night feeding him, and I just can't do it.

 

As of yesterday afternoon, he finally figured out that I wasn't going to be feeding him anymore and now he's nursing on momma just fine.  I'm very happy about that:)

 

Chalk one up for experience.  Now I know what to do next time.  It's totally a learn as you go thing.

 

Meet the boys...

 

Aragorn was the first one out - yes, his right ear droops a bit.  It just makes him even cuter;)

 

Strider was the big guy who got stuck coming out.

 

They're both named after Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Strider being Aragorn's Ranger name.  If one of them had been a girl, she would have been Arwen, of course;)

 

The two boys together - you can see how much bigger Strider is than Aragorn.

 

Well, Happy Trails y'all!

 

I'm planning on getting a good nights sleep tonight:)