My Animal Babies

This page is dedicated to all my animals I have saved from the dinner table! While I have lost some to old age and poor health, they never knew fear and were loved and cared for, and usually held and comforted till the end...

Momma Crystal

Some pics of my goat babies

Baby Zipper

Crystal and Zipper were a story that almost didn't happen...Crystal is 2 yrs old and was going through her first pregnancy.  She is really small, so I was worried for her even though most of my males are small too.   Her tummy got bigger and bigger, and her due date came and went...seemed like she was stalling labor.  About a week after she should have had him, she started labor - I heard a strange noise outside my window and looked out, there she was sitting under it, breathing hard with a bag showing!  I went out to look at her, it was about 8am - she was still in the early stages and I could see a little hoof sticking out.  I had to work so I went into the office and had my son bring her around to the front yard so I could keep an eye on her.  about 30 mins later he came in to tell me she was yelling and wouldn't stay in the front, so I went out to check her - we had most of a leg out but she wouldn't stay still, it was almost like she was trying to "run away" from the pain.  We went through 9 and 9:30 without much change, and when I took my break at 10, I went out to see if we could get it done!  By this point my son had gone over to get my neighbor who was a goat pro because he was worried about her, and I am sooooo glad he did!  We still only had one leg and one hoof hanging out, and they were both cold to the touch - I was so worried, but it seemed like the baby was still moving when I would pull on his leg.  I have helped my other moms before if they needed it, and usually only had to apply gentle traction and the baby would slip right out.  Not Crystal! I pulled gently at the next contraction, nothing.  I braced myself and pulled a little harder the next one - not a budge.  My neighbor gave me a towel so I could get a better grip on his legs and I pulled harder and still nothing.  By this time Crystal was yelling, I was shaking and it felt like 2 hours had passed.  My neighbor stepped in an I held Crystal While he pulled, he was pulling pretty hard, but he didn't want to hurt the baby - it just wasn't moving an inch.  I decided I was going to feel around to see what they issue was, so I gently felt up his legs and found his nose - GOOD! He was going the right way! So with my hand I tried to stretch her a bit to see if that would help while my neighbor pulled and my son held Crystal, we got a tiny bit more of his legs out, but Crystal was yelling so loud I was getting afraid and my neighbor told me if we didn't get him out soon we would lose them both, he was surprised the baby was still moving at that point.  So I gathered up my strength and love for my girl and I reached my hand in and felt the top of his head, as you can imagine this did not make poor Crystal happy, and she was trying to run - my son was holding her tight and trying to soothe her.  I could feel the problem, his head was under her tail bone, so I had to push his head down with one hand and pull his legs with the other while my son pulled Crystal in the opposite direction and my neighbor pulled on me! My hubby was shouting encouragingly at this point and I felt his head move forward! GLORY!! I kept pulling his feet downward and managed to get a finger between him and the tail bone, I heard a pop and out came his head!  One more push and he was delivered!! He breathed deep and yelled, momma collapsed and so did I! I put him up to her head and she licked her baby boy :) I was so happy she took him after all that - it can be iffy sometimes with goats, I have had some with only a little trouble delivering and they say "no way" to their kids!  My neighbor brought me back a syringe of antibiotics and I gave it to Crystal so she wouldn't get an infection from my manhandling of her lady parts.  She almost had the baby cleaned and he was trying to stand up.  Her poor backside looked ghastly, but she was a trooper!  We saved them both :)  It was only about 15 mins total, but seemed like hours...I named him zipper because if she had a zipper, it would have been much easier to get him out!  He has momma's blue eyes and is a gorgeous, sweet little boy!

Zipper scratching his back.

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Cookie and Ace

Technically cousins, Cookie and Ace were both born to new mommies

and both of those mommies decided they were not impressed with the 
process of labor/birth and said forget it to motherhood (both have since
had new babies and took care of them, thank goodness!)  Cookie's mom
Gingy (short for Gingerbread, the name she had when I got her) had a 
Serious case of Ketosis during the end of her pregnancy, I was able to
figure that out and help her through it, she had a hard time standing for 
the last week of her pregnancy and when little cookie came along, she 

dropped her on the front porch and went off to eat.  Luckily I looked out 

the window of the office and saw her lying on the porch or she would 

have been a goner, it was cold out that mourning and momma didn't even

clean her off.  So we brought her in and cleaned her up and got her started

on a bottle, and now she is a happy, healthy young lady :)