Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

it is amazing how well he is doing!

Today was great! I moved a bunch of chickens around. I'm trying to separate my individual breeds and it's slow - but working.

Splash kidded today! She had the cutest, most obnoxious little buckling that I've ever seen. Within 10 minutes he was up and totally earned his name of Spaz! He was up, chasing his mom and jumping on her back every time she laid down - all within 15 minutes of birth. He is awesome and totally cute in every way. I can't wait to see what he's up to in the morning, lol.

Wow! That's amazing! Good strong little guy! Glad it went smooth!

nothing cuter than baby goats, I'll swear

Glad to hear everything's going well!!
Lol spazz >,< cute name!!

Doing the baby watch again tonight - even though I fully believe she'll wait until sometime tomorrow. Sparkle is the doe that nearly died with her head caught in a fence this past summer. But, she made a great recovery and I removed the scur that was responsible for her head getting stuck and she's doing great! She is a big fat gal who is probably carrying at least 15 babies...omg she's huge. And her udder - it's ridiculous. Two days ago it was big - yesterday evening it was a bit bigger....and this evening it has doubled in size...like crazy big!

I've spent the last couple days working on the new garden area too. I scored 15 big tubs...about 30 gallon at least... that I'm using for my tomatoes this year. I made cages out of welded wire and stuck in the pots. I'm thinking that I'll wrap some lightweight row cover over the whole thing to keep the bugs out. I will have tomatoes this year. The stink bugs will not win!

Next week will be full of cardiac rehab and follow-up appts with DH's cardiologist, primary care physician and his surgeon. He had a bit of a rough night last night so I'm looking forward to speaking with his doc. He woke up about 1am with a little shortness of breath again. He was determined NOT to go to the ER so he took an extra diuretic and tried to ignore it. I took his BP and it was a tiny bit elevated (but within normal parameters), but his O2 sat was normal so I wasn't terribly worried. He, on the other hand, had worked himself into a frenzy. I probably would too if I were in his shoes. Today he was just fine except for lack of sleep.

Speaking of lack of sleep ... I'm just as sleepy as him except that I didn't get a nap today like he did, lol. I'm thinking I should head to bed soon. I'll probably set my alarm so I can get up and check on the goat at least once before morning. I think she'll be fine though because I can still feel her ligaments.

G'night ya'll!

No babies today either. Her ligaments are still there - but barely. And - I would not have thought it possible, but her udder is even bigger. Think basketball with nipples...crazy! I'm debating on milking some out because it is a very heavy load she's carrying. I'd have to bottle feed it to the kids, but I don't mind doing that in order to save her beautiful udder from damage. If she doesn't kid tomorrow I will definitely lighten her load.

It has rained all day and all last night. The rain gauge holds 5 inches and I've dumped it twice today! After I emptied it - it was full within just a couple hours.... argh! Just what we needed was some more rain. I can say in the 27 years I've lived here this is almost the worse it's been. The only time it was worse was in 1979 we got 42 inches of rain in 24 hours from Tropical Storm Claudette. We set some kind of record with that one!

Well, I got babies today. Sometimes it pays to be careful what you wish for. Sparkle had three babies - two bucklings, one doeling. Unfortunately, one of the little bucklings is rather deformed. One of his front legs is locked in a bent position. It's NOT contracted tendons. I've dealt with that before and have straightened them out without problems. His right front leg seems to be frozen in a bent position. The knee joint does NOT work at all....I've tried to gently straighten it thinking I might be able to splint it. It is NOT happening. Poor little thing. I've spent the day trying to decide what to do wit him. Bottle raise him? Hope he gets better? Let nature take it's course? Or do whatever I can for him and hope for the best?

So far I'm at "do whatever I can for him and hope for the best". He can suckle if I hold him up to the teat. I think he'll figure out how to stand on three legs... in fact... he already can. What he can't do is get up from a prone position. I've given him three days to come around. If not - I will put him down. Why subject him to a miserable life? As it is, I see his future as being wethered and freezer fodder in 6 months or so. That seems so wrong on some levels... Sigh. Definitely one of the downsides of rising animals.

Also had to disbud the other two babies. I hate it like I can't even explain - but I hate horns more.

In better news - DH has had a pretty good weekend. And I have to go back to work tomorrow - ugh! I am looking forward to retirement like you don't even know...in 5 years or so. Can I just please win the lottery? Not asking much, huh? LOL

Ok - need to shower and get ready for the week.

Glad she had her babies without issue. Bummer the little guy isn't normal. Sometimes nature is amazingly resilient, and sometimes it's not worth it. I dislike having to be a part of that decision!

It is a bummer about the little buckling - cuz now I've gone and gotten attached to the little guy. His mother officially hates him now too. She loved him for the first couple days, but she's totally over it. Thankfully, she's still taking care of the other two.

He's taking a bottle very well - so at least his little brain is working. I've been putting him in a sling for a little while each day so he can try to gain some strength in his front end. His back end works pretty well. He loves being up and acts just like an able-bodied kid when in it. He has enough slack in it that he can scoot pretty well in all directions.

He was hilarious Sunday because his little brother and he were 'sparring' while he was up in his sling. He would rear back in his sling and get some momentum going and whack into his brother - and then his brother would rear back and whack him right back and he'd go flying in his sling. I laughed until I cried and then I told my DH that we were going to have to change his name from Tripod to Pinata! (sick humor I guess)

DH is still doing very well after surgery. We had several follow-up appts yesterday - with his primary care doc and his cardiologist - along with cardiac rehab. He has another follow-up with his surgeon on Monday. I hope, hope, hope he can get released to drive, but I'm not holding my breath. Trying to do all the driving for him, take care of all the critters along with the crippled baby and still trying to work as near a 40 hour week as I can is taking it's toll on my body! I'm tired...

This too will pass....this too will pass...this too will pass!

Lol, sometimes you gotta have one
Glad to hear that things are doing good! And hopefully hell be cleared soon its tough being in charge of everything!