Some of you may have noticed recent pictures of Carmela and the expanse of her "baby bump" if it can rightly even be called that!  The mystery has been solved though, Carmela was not pregnant with a house like we suspected.  This picture was taken on May 1 - exactly one week before she kidded with triplets!  I wish I could say her delivery was perfect and that there was no trauma but . . .  Poor Carmela was having great difficulty which was very reminiscent for me of last year when she kidded and had difficulty which resulted in the loss of her first kid Leo.  After her contractions started in earnest it quickly became apparent that although we were presented with a sac and amniotic fluid, there were no babies evident.  An exploration in the birth canal confirmed what I feared - Carmela's babies were either so large she would be unable to pass them OR they were in serious distress.  An emergency call was placed to our vets at Muldrew Lake Veterinary Services and we anxiously awaited the arrival of Kelli, our vet.  Carmela was clearly in distress by the time Kelli arrives so we immediately jumped into action to get everything sorted out.  Carmela had a kid presented across her cervix which clearly was not going to be able to come out that way.  Kelli got that kid turned but they quickly realized that there were other babies all wanting to come out at the same time!  After sorting out which head belonged to which legs, Carmela's first kid came into the world.  Our happiness quickly turned into sadness as we all looked upon this beautiful little soul who appeared to be quite still born.  To our surprise it too a breath, and another, and another!  It appeared as though this baby either had no bones or every bone in it's body was broken though as it seemed like a breathing bag of skin.  We quickly had to decide to focus on the other kids - ones we could hopefully save.  The next kid came out much easier and was passed off to our waiting helpers to dry and clean the kid.  The third kid was quite a bit larger then the previous two and took some effort to deliver but Kelli is great at what she does and managed to get the last kid safely delivered. 

 After the second and third babies were cleaned and returned to our poor
Carmela we decided to assess the first little one as it was still fighting to
breathe!  Kelli gave it a quick examination and determined that if it
wanted to live it would find a way so we started working on the first little
one.  We determined that Carmela's first baby was the only girl of the three which made the whole sad situation ever more bittersweet.  Not only was this tiny little doeling a fighter, but she was letting us know loud and clear that she intended to survive!   I continued to rub and worm her tiny body up while getting Carmela into a clean dry stall with her two boys.  The little girl had to strength and couldn't even hold up her own head!  Amazingly though, within an hour after being born she was trying to stand!  Within two hours she managed to nurse directly from Carmela as opposed to the bottle I had given her colostrum from.

Carmela and all three babies were incredibly weak.  I did not sleep at all that first night while I stayed as close to her as possible and be ready for anything.  Carmela was unable to nurse her babies as she was so weak her legs would give out after a few seconds of trying to stand.  I had frozen colostrum that I heated and fed to the babies throughout the night.  All the next day all 4 continued to be extremely weak and it was getting increasingly harder to get the babies to feed.  Fortunately for me some good friends came by to offer their help and allow me to get a bit of sleep while they continued to feed the babies.  I was starting to fear that we would lose them all.  Then about 10:30 Thursday night, Carmela was able to stand long enough to nurse her babies with me helping to keep her upright!  You could almost see the difference in the babies within a few hours and a few feedings later.  Being able to nurse directly from their mother seemed to make all the difference in the world!  Now here it is Saturday and you would never know that these were the same little babies!  They are not only standing and nursing from their Mom unassisted, they are starting to hop and play!  I finally feel that we are through the worst and that all will survive.  As for our dear sweet Carmela, we have decided that her days as a breeding goat are over.  Two difficult kiddings tell us that she is better suited to being the therapy goat I have been wanting her to be.  Once she is done raising these current kids she will get to retire from breeding and enjoy some well deserved rest until she is needed to help heal someone else in need.  She is so special and loveable, we know she will be happy in her new job.

What a busy weekend!  We knew going into the weekend that the next batch of girls would begin having their babies but I never thought that we would be having two girls giving birth at the same time!  Saturday was a beautiful and sunny day.  Both Dixie and Donna were very restless and acting suspiciously like they were planning to have their babies but neither of them were showing signs of imminent delivery, so I just stayed close and kept an eye on them both.  I was enjoying some shade and having a chat with a friend that was over when suddenly Donna began to push!  I immediately jumped into action and helped her to deliver our first set of triplets!  Donna blessed us with two beautiful girls and a gorgeous little boy!  All 3 are healthy and so tiny! 

No sooner had I delivered the third kid, Dixie immediately started pushing!!  Before I knew it, Dixie had delivered a huge buckling followed very quickly by a doeling!  Both are the spitting image of their Mom and are also very healthy and strong.  I am so thankful that all babies and both Mom's are doing well.  It was an eventful afternoon, one that our good friend Kevin may never forget as he was quickly thrust into the role of Doula to assist me with the deliveries.  I am happy and proud to say that Kevin did awesome and was not the least bit squeamish!  With all the excitement over and all the new Mom's and babies tucked into their nice clean pens, we enjoyed a fabulous steak BBQ!  It was a perfect end to a wonderful day!  We still have Carmela and Mimi due to kid this week to ensure I continue to get no rest!  We are at 13 babies and counting!  3 more Mom's to kid and I can't wait to see how many babies we end up with!

I can't believe it has been over 4 months since my last post!  It honestly feels like it has been years since my last entry as our lives have ben caught up in so much turmoil these last few months.  So many changes have occurred in our lives - both good and bad and I will do my best to update everyone!

I guess I will start with the addition of Rosie to our herd.  We took Rosie in as a foster from the OSPCA and after a short time decided to add her permanently to our herd.  Rosie has a very ugly history which I will not share here but we are happy to report she is now very happy in her new home.  She is showing improvements every day and is finally able to be without her winter jacket full time now that the weather is warmer and her hair is growing back in.    Rosie loves food and treats and seems to be very fascinated with watching birds!  She loves all the new babies that keep arriving and is often playing with them!  We have grown to love Rosie in a very short time and are happy that she can live out her days with us here.

The worst part of the last few months has been dealing with the loss of a friend.  Lindsay was tragically taken from all of us on April 5, 2013.  She was the victim of a horrible and senseless murder at the hands of her ex boyfriend.  Lindsay and I were in the same degree program at Nipissing U and she was supposed to be graduating with our class this June.  She was a special woman who was always able to find the positive in every situation and took on life with such a zest that those who knew her couldn't help but be inspired by her!  She will be forever missed but never forgotten.  RIP sweet angel. ♥

Babies are arriving!  So far we have 8 babies born and all are healthy and vigorous!  CC blessed us with two beautiful boys - Apollo and Merak.  Bonnie also had two boys - Titan and Moon Pi.  Maisie gave birth to two beautiful babies - Asia and Hercules.  We are retaining both of them.  Lucy also blessed us with a girl and a boy - Aurora and Argus.  The next four girls to kid are Donna, Dixie, Carmela and Mimi.  They are due starting the 5th of May!

Any guesses on how many babies our Carmela is carrying?  She is seriously as big as a house!  She was big last year - but not this BIG!  Last year she had twin boys.

The weather so far this year has been very frustrating.  Extreme changes in temperature followed by snow, then rain, then more snow is making life very difficult.  The end of April saw us dealing with the worst flood we have ever faced here!  We had to evacuate the goats to different farms just to keep them all safe and dry.  It made life even more stressful as so many roads in the area were closed due to wash outs.  It was a challenge just to get to around everywhere.  We are happy to report though that we all made it through and our house was not damaged in the flood.  We were very fortunate considering how many others in the area lost everything.  Now that the water has gone back down we are dealing with repairs to our fences and the cleanup of everything that washed in our yard.  it could have been so much worse!

I guess the best news of all is that I have finally finished school!  Through everything that's gone on in the last month I am not exactly sure how I managed, but I did!  No more exams, papers or terrible reading assignments for this girl!  At least for awhile anyways!  I would still like to go on to grad school at some point but for the next year at least I will be taking the time to refocus and get centered again.  There is plenty of time to go back to school again later!  For now it is just so hard to believe that after 4 years I have finally earned my degree!  I definitely need to celebrate but will do so when things aren't so busy around here!

Dixie has given birth to two healthy little girls!!! They are both just over 5 pounds and arrived when I wasn't even here to greet them! Daniel was home but Geordon and I were 45 minutes away delivering a horse to its new home and had visit his parents
when we got the call. A stressful drive home saw us getting home to two little bundles of wet fluff and a very eager new Mom. Dixie is doing really well and has taken to being a Mom without any issues. Both little girls have the same Alpine markings that Dixie has but one is white and black and the other is brown and black. They are both just so precious!