Goat birth goes bad SERIOUSLY bad

Friday March 12th was a typical normal ranch day. Usual happenings with various animals about the property. Nothing really out of the ordinary. I'd had Twister in a stall our Nigerian Dwarf for about three days. She was due Mid March. She wasn't presenting at my last evening check at 6pm. Feeding the piglets, separating goats(I'm milk sharing with a momma so I bring her baby who is three months old in at night so I can milk her momma in the morning for us and then baby can have momma all day ) We came in the house and I was preparing dinner. Looked at my cam and BEHOLD a beautiful little baby at Twisters side.. So much for dinner! I raced out to the barn to my shock a TINY and I mean the tiniest baby... Later we would learn she was shy of 2.5 LBS. More on that later.

I stayed in the barn that night with Twister. IT was quite some time after that first tiny baby that it was apparent something was wrong. No progression and Momma in distress. Time to intervene. Glove up, lube up and feel for what is happening. Inside I felt a hard surface with no definition. It wasn't hard to figure out it was a breech presenting butt first and legs tucked under. I pushed the baby back in but could still not grasp the tucked under legs. You can deliver a goat backwards as long as the legs are presenting. Wasn't happening - tried again, push in and then Momma pushing back, collapses with a big plop and the butt is coming out -push push push as I grabbed what I could and gently pull with her contractions. After several tense moments he was out. No movement, no heartbeat. A beautiful as I call them Oreo Cookie buckling(black, white in the middle and black). I allowed Twister to lick him and went to the tack room to get her some molasses water. By the time I was back 2 minutes maybe A SACK with a baby in it behind Twister. Twister exhausted and unable to break the sack. I had no time but it was amazing to see this baby inside an intact sack basically leaping thru the air like a hot air ballon. It was actually hard for me to hold her still to break the sack!.. We later named her Zippy . As a week later she is still wild running jumping and bouncing off the walls!....Whew.. three babies tragically one did not make it but all was looking well with the two doelings yet Momma still seemed in distress. BTW I have several video clips during this process that I'll share at a later date.

The placenta and now another was coming out, yet she was pushing extremely hard so I decided to glove up and check to see if possibly another baby. I felt nothing two finger length in which I was told to do. No progress a few hours later so I called our vet. OFF hours of course but states they will call back within 20 min on an emergency. This was sometime around midnight. I never received a call back. Saturday morning still HUGE pushing, afterbirth presenting but not moving forward. Again I call our Vet this time in office hours with a voice machine. I leave a message... ZERO call back until 5 pm that evening. I was instructed to tie the "hang out" in a knot to help pull it out (you never want to pull on afterbirth, it needs to come out intact)_ AND oh they could also fit us in Monday

Monday - AT this point my goat, myself and anyone ie- husband, animals in contact with me is now in distress. I call my old veterinary clinic explain what is happening and they got us in within the hour. We put Twisters two babies in a rubbermaid tote and lifted Twister into the backseat of my Tundra with me for a 20 min trip . She is in extreme pain yet always so sweet. She as sick as she is alway attentive to her babies. Both her babies small but especially the first born.. As stated earlier she weighed out to only 2.4lbs

The vet tech comes out to assist . Keep in mind we are still in a covid 19 lockdown in Oregon. I was masked up so they allowed me to bring Twister in for her exam. Which later turned into a life saving emergency . What we didn't know and I did not feel was a fourth kid that was now deceased and stuck inside our precious Twister causing sepsis. A cesarean was out of the question as the kid was already rotting. (I'm sorry and I will never forget what transpired during all of this). The kid was very large and presented butt first again with legs under. AS he tried to manipulate the body he just couldn't get it out for its size. The next option was to dismember it piece by piece. OF which we did. TO TRY and save Momma. Her chances of recovery are 50/50. NOT bad odds for what she just went thru. SO we will try.. AND try we will. We brought that baby home and buried it with his brother near the pond.

Our momma is seriously seriously sick. YET she will get up minimal but nurturing to feed. So I am bottle feeding as well at this time but letting them be with Momma as well. In doing so I am milking one of our other goats and feeding it to the babes .... Momma started eating hay again about March 15. A good sign.. She was on heavy injectable antibiotics Monday and Tuesday. We've since switched to an oral pill which I thought hum how am I gonna do that?! ..EASY - soak a bite of bread in milk, wrap the pill inside and YUP a yummy treat!....

THEN the next symptoms.. BLOCKAGE... I mean huge swelling poop blockage. HERE I go again... Glove up. grease up... different hole and pull out gobs .. GOBS....... Warm water enema and preparation H.......ANy thing else? I'm so sorry Momma........ WE are by no means out of the woods,,,, I will update soon.... Thank you for your prayers and well wishes.

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Tuesday March 23 things went wayward and it was apparent that Twister was suffering and would not recover. We made the agonising decision to put her down. AN amazing goat, mother, friend...... GOD speed my dear lovely.... I am so sorry and will miss you forever