 |
| Our first homebred Kinder babies. The white one is the little girl. Firstborn at top, white with gray moonspots. |
Yesterday Helen seemed preoccupied so I knew her time was near. She started pushing at 5 p.m. but after about an hour I was getting worried because nothing had presented. That's too long, so I went to the house to scrub up. When I got back out I could hear Helen bawling and Dan called to come quickly. In a few more pushes we had a nose! She seemed to stall out there and the next few contractions brought no further progress. She very tight and I wondered if that as the problem. Without legs, however, there was no way to help it out. I didn't even know if there was enough room for me to get fingers in to feel for feet without her tearing. I finally found the feet but one seemed to be caught under her pelvis and the other on membrane (birth sac? umbilical cord?). I fished them out, pulled him out with the next contractions, and the other three followed in less than 15 minutes. The doeling was the last. She looks just like their daddy.
This morning when I had better light I checked them all over, gave them their selenium / E, and weighted them. I also got photos!
 |
| Firstborn, a buckling. White and gray with black trim. |
 |
| The other side |
 |
| Second born, a buckling. He has a smattering of light brown spots |
 |
| The other side |
 |
| 3rd born, also a buckling. Solid black with frosted ears. His coat is like velvet! Not sure if that's typical for blacks, but Clark's is the same way. |
 |
| Last but not least, the doeling. |
 |
| She has a black stripe down her back, which you can see in one of yesterday's newborn shots. |
Helen's udder was very full by the time she delivered, and I made sure each kid got a tummy full of colostrum. I weighed them so I can keep track of weight gain and make sure each kid is getting enough. It was too dark to do that last night, so the first weigh-in was this morning.
#1 - 4 pounds 15 ounces
#2 - 4 pounds 15 ounces
#3 - 4 pounds 14 ounces
#4 - 4 pounds 10 ounces
It's not uncommon for the does to be lighter weight at birth than the bucks, but she seems to be holding her own. I will continue to monitor that.
 |
| Sleeping pile! |
I was amazed at how quickly they were on their feet. This morning they're starting to get hoppy, but still topple over quite a bit. Helen is an amazing mom, very attentive. She didn't look that big, so I never dreamed she was carrying so many.
So all's well that ends well. Now I have three weeks to recover before Daphne is due.
