Triplet birth

This week was a very exciting one at my farm. I have a large Nubian doe who was pregnant and due this week. On one particular Friday a friend came over to help me draw blood for the goats yearly CAE test. Parfait (the goat) was acting a little strange, reluctant to walk or move out of the shelter in her pen, walking stiff, etc. We got her into the main barn to draw the blood and she was very much in labor and looked like the contractions were coming fairly fast! I put her in a stall and we set to watching her to make sure everything went well. After about a half an hour of pushing she finally got the first baby parts to show. It didn't look like feet in the normal birth presentation so I went in the stall to make sure she didn't need help. Soon I discovered that the tail was coming out first. I wasn't able to get the baby back in to rearrange it, so I helped it come out and he was born a healthy little buck. After another short while another baby started being born. That one presented itself in the normal birth position and she came out easily. Well, she barely had gotten out and we got the membranes cleaned from her face when another foot started coming out. However this one was only one foot. I was concerned because I didn't see the other one so I reached in with my fingers and didn't find the other foot. I realized that I was going to have to help or it could end badly. Thankfully I had already washed my hands really good so I reach inside of her and found the other foot, It was twisted back. I was able to get it positioned properly and then began to try to find the head. I couldn't find it anywhere! When my arm was up to my elbow inside the goat I finally found the little baby's head tucked up against her belly in between her front legs. With some difficulty I was able to pull the head up and forward and then pull the baby out gently. All three babies were alive and healthy by the time all the excitement was over. The goat was quite exhausted and it was a huge learning event for me, as I had never actually had to straighten babies out inside the mom! The one boy and two girls are just a few days old now and so much fun to watch them learn to play and be cute little goats!

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