Written by Mom:
The only aspect of Whimsy's kidding that was not picture-perfect was the fact that Hazel was not here for it. Hazel is the goat midwife, the goat milker, the goat trimmer, goat shower, goat manager... I spend money, do advertising, take pictures, milk when necessary, haul hay and cheer her on.
Hazel is also the Captain of her high school's Academic Decathalon team. AcaDec is an extracurricular activity for, basically, nerds. The students study different topics and a Super Quiz topic (this year was India) and create a speech and practice interviews, then go to compete with other schools' teams at Scrimmages, Regionals and if they qualify, State. Hazel's team qualified for State (go ahead, ask me about all the medals and trophies she earned at Regionals!) and Hazel was horrified to find out that State was also the day that Athena was due. Athena has had some difficult kiddings before, but she decided to come early. So Whimsy was next on the docket, we were not anticipating any problems, and we had none.
I slept out in the kidding shed, as we still don't have audio for our cameras. Whimsy spent the day positioning, developing an enormous udder, and I crashed out there about 10 or so, snuggled into a sleeping bag on a cot.
Whimsy was predictably restless, as does tend to be when they are getting ready to kid, but she was quiet about it. At about 2AM, she started calling to me, and woke me up. Within a half hour, she'd laid down in a nice accessible position (we always joke that the doe isn't really going to kid until she has her rear-end in the corner), and she proceeded to go into labor. I gloved up, washed up and did a two finger check, only to feel hooves. Whimsy pushed and I grabbed the hooves. Before long, both hooves were joined by a nose, and after a bit of pressure on my end and a lot of work on Whimy's end, the first white doeling, Elfaba, was born.
Within about 15 or 20 minutes, while Whimsy and I dried Elfie, Whimsy went into hard labor again. This time, the long legs and nose were followed by a splashy black and white doeling, Maleficent, whose vigor was so remarkable that she refused to remain in the cooler with her sister and was looking for milk within minutes of my having cleaned out her nose and mouth. Whimsy was delighted with her second daughter, but also would check on her first one, while we dried Maleficent.
Soon after, Whimsy began to pass her placenta, and I rang up my husband to ask him to please bring the laundry basket to contain these two kids, who would not stay down and quiet. But then, with Maleficent trying to flop her way off toward the door, Elfie ready to try out her legs, and the laundry basket nowhere in sight, Whimsy went into hard labor again and sure enough, ANOTHER pair of legs and a following nose, showed up over the placenta. We pulled/pushed out another lovely white doeling, and I had to press my husband into service thinking of another Female Villianess name, for that was this year's theme for Whimsy-kids. Jorge came up with Nagaina (the female cobra from Kipling's Rikki Tikki Tavi). All three kids, who we had to transfer to a Sweetlix cattle lick barrel, let me sleep until dawn, and Whimsy has proven herself a very devoted mother, though she is not keen on letting her babies nurse and only now (3/20/16) has settled down to be milked without a major battle.
The only aspect of Whimsy's kidding that was not picture-perfect was the fact that Hazel was not here for it. Hazel is the goat midwife, the goat milker, the goat trimmer, goat shower, goat manager... I spend money, do advertising, take pictures, milk when necessary, haul hay and cheer her on.
Hazel is also the Captain of her high school's Academic Decathalon team. AcaDec is an extracurricular activity for, basically, nerds. The students study different topics and a Super Quiz topic (this year was India) and create a speech and practice interviews, then go to compete with other schools' teams at Scrimmages, Regionals and if they qualify, State. Hazel's team qualified for State (go ahead, ask me about all the medals and trophies she earned at Regionals!) and Hazel was horrified to find out that State was also the day that Athena was due. Athena has had some difficult kiddings before, but she decided to come early. So Whimsy was next on the docket, we were not anticipating any problems, and we had none.
I slept out in the kidding shed, as we still don't have audio for our cameras. Whimsy spent the day positioning, developing an enormous udder, and I crashed out there about 10 or so, snuggled into a sleeping bag on a cot.
Whimsy was predictably restless, as does tend to be when they are getting ready to kid, but she was quiet about it. At about 2AM, she started calling to me, and woke me up. Within a half hour, she'd laid down in a nice accessible position (we always joke that the doe isn't really going to kid until she has her rear-end in the corner), and she proceeded to go into labor. I gloved up, washed up and did a two finger check, only to feel hooves. Whimsy pushed and I grabbed the hooves. Before long, both hooves were joined by a nose, and after a bit of pressure on my end and a lot of work on Whimy's end, the first white doeling, Elfaba, was born.
Within about 15 or 20 minutes, while Whimsy and I dried Elfie, Whimsy went into hard labor again. This time, the long legs and nose were followed by a splashy black and white doeling, Maleficent, whose vigor was so remarkable that she refused to remain in the cooler with her sister and was looking for milk within minutes of my having cleaned out her nose and mouth. Whimsy was delighted with her second daughter, but also would check on her first one, while we dried Maleficent.
Soon after, Whimsy began to pass her placenta, and I rang up my husband to ask him to please bring the laundry basket to contain these two kids, who would not stay down and quiet. But then, with Maleficent trying to flop her way off toward the door, Elfie ready to try out her legs, and the laundry basket nowhere in sight, Whimsy went into hard labor again and sure enough, ANOTHER pair of legs and a following nose, showed up over the placenta. We pulled/pushed out another lovely white doeling, and I had to press my husband into service thinking of another Female Villianess name, for that was this year's theme for Whimsy-kids. Jorge came up with Nagaina (the female cobra from Kipling's Rikki Tikki Tavi). All three kids, who we had to transfer to a Sweetlix cattle lick barrel, let me sleep until dawn, and Whimsy has proven herself a very devoted mother, though she is not keen on letting her babies nurse and only now (3/20/16) has settled down to be milked without a major battle.