Why can't animals...

just birth naturally? I mean really. My goat gave me a hard time and a big bill when she should have just done it right the first time. I mean, I did it with 7 children, why can't she do it with 3?

Then comes my neighbors dogs today. She is going on vacation and has two dogs due soon, one needs to be watched(Peaches), one doesn't(Sarah). 8am Peaches arrives to stay the day while we watch over her. 1pm my neighbor Brenda stops in to tell me Sarah is whelping. I run over to check on her and there she lays with a warm dead puppy. I tried and tried to no avail. Then I waited to grab the next one....and waited..... and waited. Nothing. Sarah was supposed to be the easy one! 3pm comes and I tried to manipulate the puppies into the birth canal but she just will not contract, her body has decided that is it. I call her poor owners who are in Chicago by this time and we decide to call the vet. The local vet says it sounds like inertia but he is understaffed and told us to run to the emergency clinic in B-ham. I look at my seven children and think how I am going to pull this off, but thanks to my WONDERFUL daughter who promised she could tackle them all, off Jacob, I and Sarah went.

FINALLY at 8:30pm they have Sarah prepped and ready for a c-section but warn me that the puppies are probably not viable(several times). I felt them all moving right before they took her away and told them I know they are alive and I want them out that way...in a nice tone of course. Meanwhile, I prayed. Please let my neighbor have enough healthy puppies to pay for this vet bill!

8:45pm there is a squeaky cry coming from the back room and we all erupt with clapping. The C-sec was a success, 5 living healthy puppies(3m/2f).
9 pm I can't take Sarah home for two hours so I decide to go shopping. I get in my truck and the phone rings, it's Jessica. Peaches just had a puppy in her dog crate in our living room. O.k., now I am coming home. 9:25 Phone rings again and it's Jessica saying Peaches started having another puppy and it came backwards. It is stuck half out and it has been there for a while. I tell her she has to pull the puppy out gently. She protested a tad because of the yuck, but then she bucked up and did it. She tore the sack and found it wasn't moving or breathing. I felt like a 911 operator, lol! She was upset and I told her to get a dry washcloth and start rubbing him rather roughly. She did that for about 40 seconds and said he started moving. She did it! He began to breathe and she kept up the stimulation. 9:35 I get home in time to watch Peaches deliver her third and last healthy pup. We clean them up and bring them over to my neighbors house to set them up in their heated plush kennel. 10:45 Jess and I run to B-ham to pick up Sarah. Leave B-ham at 12:05am. Arrive at her kennels at 12:35 and need to bottle feed all five puppies as mamma was beat and didn't have her milk in yet. Feeding 5oz puppies is nothing like goat kids, I'll tell you. These whimpy things took forEVER to eat, but it was oh SO fun. Even after raising over 100 puppies myself, I have never bottle fed a puppy. I am too impatient for that and choose to tube feed, cuz it's fast and all the milk gets from point A to point B guaranteed. ;) We come home at 1 something and go to bed. What a day. And you know what the funny part is? I thrive on this, it was so fun to run around fixing problems, I really enjoyed it. Memories. Good night!