The Mama Who Cried, "Goat Labor!"

When we first bought our goats back in April, we were told by the farmer who sold them to us that both of the yearling does--Chive and Petah--were pregnant. He was certain that Chive was due around May 1st (and she ended up giving birth--to Lou Lou Unicorn and Harvey Milk--on May 2nd), but he was less sure about a due date for Petah, saying only that she could be due anytime up until July 1st. It was actually hard to believe that she was even pregnant for the first month or so that she was here, since she showed no signs or symptoms (as is typical for goats in early pregnancy). But after Chive delivered her twins, Petah did start to look a bit pregnant, and she continued to expand rapidly as the months went by. As we neared the end of June, it seemed like it was up in the air as to who--between Lena and Petah--would give birth first. I was guessing that the goat would "win," but as we approached Leo's due date, I began to worry that the births might actually coincide. Once Lena's labor began, I sensed that Petah was about to go into labor as well, and it was actually a bit stressful. After staying up all night to witness the birth of my human baby, I couldn't imagine staying up for any portion of the night to be a goat midwife. I was shocked (and a bit relieved) when July 1st came and went and Petah was still pregnant. But after a week or so, I started to feel concerned. I contacted the goat farmer to clarify that July 1st was the absolute latest possible due date. He responded and said vaguely that it was "possible she was bred later than I thought." Much relieved, I stopped treating each and every day as the day when "surely the day the goat babies would arrive," but still was caught saying many times, "she will go into labor by the end of the week."

After four weeks of that, my predictions reached an all-time high when I announced to the world (aka facebook) that Petah was, in fact, finally in labor, and invited all of our friends over to witness the birth. A few hours later, it was clear that she was not in labor at all, and I decided to shut my mouth about the whole thing from then on. But yesterday, Petah's udder looked quite full, and I hoped I wouldn't be biting my tongue when I once again found myself telling everyone that she would give birth within 24 hours. Luckily for me--friend of the boy who cried "wolf!"--my prediction really was right-on this time, over a month later than my original prediction. This morning it was obvious that today would in fact be the day, and once again I sent out an email inviting our friends over for the "show."

Petah had become so huge that we wondered if she might be having triplets. I thought she was probably only having twins--since it was her first pregnancy--but that the babies would be big. I was a little worried that Petah might have some trouble birthing big babies, and was glad that she chose 10:00 a.m. (instead of 10:00 p.m.) to go into active labor so that I could be an alert attendant.

Zeben, Araela, Lou Lou, Lukas and Jasper

We put Petah into the "birthing suite" (a sectioned off area in the goat stall), and all of the kids (Lou Lou included!) lined up against the fence, watching Petah labor. A bubble of fluid appeared from Petah's yoni, but then labor seemed to stall. During this time, a bunch of our friends arrived with their young children in hopes of being there for the birth. I was glad they made it in time!

the bubble of fluid

While it's normal for human labor to progress slowly, goat labor should happen pretty quickly once a goat reaches the pushing stage. From my research I knew that after 30 minutes of no progress during active labor, it's recommended for a human attendant to "go in" and assess the position of the kid. After 30 minutes, we still couldn't see any part of the presenting kid, and I decided that it was time to intervene. We cleared out the barn (it had become a bit full of human children and mamas), I donned some gloves, lubricated them with mineral oil, and reached inside of Petah to see what was going on. I stuck my finger right into a kid's mouth! It felt like the kid was presenting correctly (with two hooves under his chin), but he was big and a bit stuck. I began to help Petah by pulling gently on the kid while she pushed, and almost right away, he (a boy!) was born. Everything happened so quickly--after a tense few minutes of wondering how stuck the kid was--that we didn't get any documentation of the birth of the first kid. But Lena was able to film the birth of the second kid (who was even a bit more stuck than the first, with one of his front legs folded back), and here it is for your viewing pleasure:



Petah was sort of unsure about the situation for her first few hours of motherhood, but has since stepped up to the plate and is mothering her babies like a pro. Both of the new little bucklings--"Wolfie" and "Spotty"--are doing wonderfully, and are quite strong and stable on their feet already. We are very much looking forward to playing with them in the weeks to come. As frustrating as this "waiting for goat labor" experience has been, I'm actually rather pleased with the (delayed) timing of the birth. Last week little Harvey left for his new home (we simply cannot keep all of these goats in the space that we have), and our farmyard needed a new burst of life right about now.

Wolfie Nursing
3 hours old

Spotty showing off his fabulous spots

Congratulations to Petah, and Welcome to Wolf and Spot!