*we have grown in number by TWO!

I have been waiting for this day for months and months, and preparing for it for just about as long!  Today we added to our numbers by 2!  Our sweet Nubian doe, Bodica gave birth to two (a buck and a doe) seemingly healthy kids this afternoon around 1:30PM.

I have read website after website, posted on several different "goat groups" online, read several books and learned so much in order that I might be prepared for what I was a part of today.  While we were over the top thrilled to figure out that Bodica was pregnant, we didn't have an exact date as to when that happened.  I must say that all of the signs that the books, websites and blogs that I read was all spot on. Not that I doubted any of them.  If you have a doe that has conceived on a date that you are unaware of, if you keep close watch you may still be able to recognize her delivery week.

I have been checking Bodie's ligaments daily to note when I feel a change, the ligaments near her tail are tight and pencil like right up to the day of her delivery. Approaching the delivery date the ligaments start to soften and totally give way on the day she is to deliver.  The  last few days she has eaten very little of her hay, which was another sign that I checked off the list.

Today I had my alarm set for church, but I woke earlier in the morning with a headache, so I turned the alarm off and stayed in from church.  I am really glad that I ended up at home today.   I walked out and picked up the paper, went back to the barn and sat on the floor of Bodie's stall and read the paper.  Earlier in the morning I had rubbed her tummy for a long while, which she really seemed to enjoy.  I felt that her delivery date would be soon, but I had no firm clue that it would be today.  I look at today's events as a gift from God. I so wanted to be in the stall with her when she birthed and I was. So grateful.

As I sat with her reading the paper, she got up a few times, stretching but ignoring her food completely.  This is not normal.  The last time she came back to sit down on the big hay pile near me she stretched out, and elongated her neck along the strong wood in front of her and began to moan a bit.  Shortly  there after she grunted loudly, pushed and her water broke. I was like holy cow!!!! I immediately phoned my beloved who was in his workshop and gave him the news. The next thing I did was fly out of the stall, ran like the wind to the house to get the "birthing basket" and ran back out to the barn. 

I sat down, got my camera ready, and within 20 minutes she had issued birth to her sweet little baby girl.  She pushed several times with such force that her whole body rocked.  The little doe had a textbook delivery - two front hooves and a nose appearing first, then after a good push - flop.. she was out on the barn floor.   As I started to wipe the little doe off and clean her up some, Bodie was starting to push again.  This time around the next one up was showing signs of some possible difficulties.  There was only one hoof present with the head pushing through.   She labored heavily for several minutes pushing with all she had, but to no avail, not much was happening.  I chose to intervene by reaching in with my gloved hand and pulled the other leg out and forward.  Then with one little slight push (or so it seemed at this point) out came out little buck!

We did our best to get them started with nursing so they have a good start with the colostrum they are in such great need for at this point.   The little goats need to get as much colostrum as possible in the first 24 hours, as their stomach lining changes after that first day. So they do not absorb and take in the colostrum as they would have in that short window of time.

We went out to check on momma and kids one more time before bedtime.  They were snug as a bug in a rug.  Bodie has been bonding with her kids nicely and is showing signs of a great momma!

It seems every other creature in the barnyard was wanting in on the action that was taking place in stall No. 1.   Bodie was showing signs of protection over her little one, pushing Lucy (the chicken) around with her head and she would not let Zeke (the cat) get very close either. 

More to come, you can be sure of that.  Good night!

Some of these photos was taken with my Android phone, so.. the lighting and images aren't the best but still captured some great moments!