Hindel Kidz 39: A Little Bundle of Joy
HINDEL KIDZ #39
A LITTLE BUNDLE OF JOY
Jack was worried about Joy. Would she and Jane share the same fate? She had hemorrhaged last year and they almost lost her. She had been bred by accident. Charlie had gotten out of his pen due to a windstorm.
“I think Joy is going to have a single,” Jack said even though she looked big enough to have triplets. She had a lot of milk. Joy was not as heavy or as big as Jane. It could only work in her favor.
Grace was worried, too. She had sympathy pains for Jane even though she was dead. If something happened to Joy and her baby, Grace would probably hurt for a month. She thought Joy would have been too old to have babies. She would be turning nine in August. Would the baby be brown like Joy or caramel like Charlie?
“It will probably end up having feathers,” Jack commented since the goats went around the house every day and ate the bird seed on the ground.
Joy’s appointment had been scheduled for the afternoon of April 10th. All morning Grace had been fighting a battle with herself. She hated the anticipation of waiting. She kept telling herself, “Don’t get your hopes up. You don’t want to be let down if the babies don’t survive.” But she just couldn’t bring herself not to be optimistic. “Joy and her baby have to be okay. They just have to be.”
This time Dr. Robb was waiting for them. He came out to the truck and then decided to carry Joy back instead of letting her walk. It was time for the babies to come out. Joy’s due date had been April 12th. Two days could make the difference between life and death. It was up to Dr. Robb and God now.
“Well, it’s time to face the music,” Jack sighed, when they pulled back into the parking lot a half an hour later.
Grace’s heartbeat quickened as they walked into the vet’s office. After a few minutes one of the assistants came out from the back.
“Surgery is done. It went well. Both of them are just starting to wake up. It’s a little doe.”
“Only one?” Grace asked.
“The only one.” So Jack had been right.
The rest of the people in there wanted to see the baby. One older couple, you could tell it just made their day to see something so little and cute. Dr. Robb and another assistant helped usher Joy outside and back into the truck. He had given the baby something to help with her breathing, but she was doing okay. She was smaller than Clark, but bigger than Pete and Peanut. And she was caramel. There was no doubt Charlie was her father. With Jane’s baby being caramel they weren’t sure who the father was.
Jack was both happy and disappointed. The baby had survived and it was a girl. Because Joy only had a single, he had another problem. He would be one goat short for the fair. He had hoped Joy would have had twins. This baby would take the place of Coco…at the fair, but not in his heart.
Since Joy had only had bucks in the past, Jack had just assumed she would have another one. He had already chosen the name O’ Henry. O’ Henry was what the girls would say when the boys came to flirt with them at the candy store. The things you learn from Jeopardy.
Possible names for girls included: Milky Way, Twix, Caramel Delight and Peppermint Patty and call her Pat for short, to keep with the candy bar theme; Janette (after her late grandmother, Jane), Twinkie or Twinkle since she had started out as just a Twinkle in Charlie’s eye. Or Jack could just change O’ Henry to Henrietta. Grace and Rhonda liked this name best.
“I need to get some milk in her and get her going before I get too excited,” Jack said. She wasn’t out of the woods quite yet.
By suppertime the baby was standing and trying to make her way over toward her mom. She sure was noisy. She would watch and call to Joy, who was still a little groggy. Just have to give her time for the after effects of the knockout gas to wear off. The baby bawled again and this time Joy answered with a very low bellow. Jack milked Joy with the milking machine. He bottle fed the baby and she drank almost an ounce.
“You are still going to have to pay just as much attention to Gabby as you do the baby goat,” Sven reminded Grace. “Yes, it’s cute, but Gabby is going to get jealous and pout.” She could already tell something was new and different even if she didn’t know exactly what.
Now Joy has had five babies including a stillborn and this being her first girl. This will probably be Charlie’s first and only baby if Jack has anything to say about it. He would like to sell Charlie and Rob. He doesn’t want any more males who can breed.
Gabby was introduced to the baby the next day. She smelled her and licked her a couple times and then left the building. She came back one more time to check the baby out again.
Joy was more alert and she and her baby had started to bond. Joy would lick her and nudge her to get her back on her feet. She wouldn’t let her lay down for long. Jack didn’t have to bottle feed anymore since she had started to nurse a little bit more. Susie wasn’t too sure what to think of her new little niece.
Susie was in the mood to pick a fight. She decided her target would be Gabby. They were nose to nose and then Gabby walked away minding her own business. Susie stood there, watched her and started walking to her. Then she charged Gabby and tried to head butt her. She had never bothered Gabby before. Maybe Gabby was invading her space. Maybe Joy had told her to go out and warm Gabby up for when she was able to get out of the birthing pen! Or maybe Susie was protecting her little niece.
The next time Grace held the baby Hope reached out and tugged on her pant leg. She wanted some attention, too. The baby came in the building and jumped on Pearl’s back. Like mother, like daughter. Joy used to jump on Pearl’s back when she was a baby. Joy bellowed at her baby, the baby bellowed back and ran over to her mom. Then she jumped on Libby’s back and booted Susie out of the hayrack. Faith booted the baby out of the hayrack. But not to be outdone the baby jumped back into the hay rack and tried to jump on Faith’s back. Pearl and Libby couldn’t care less if the baby jumped on them, but Faith did not like it at all. She ran out of the building. The baby was already trying to run with the big goats.
Joey and her friends show up to see the baby.
“We do good with the goats, that’s all we care about,” Joey commented.
Grace bit her lip as hard as she could. She wanted to say something so bad! Joey knew as well as Grace did the only reason they won was because Jack walked the goats. And if Joey didn’t know this then she was dumber than Grace thought.
Jack and Charlotte were thinking about naming the baby Sugar Baby or Babe Ruth and just calling her Babe. Jack calls all the female goats “Babe”. With this one it just happens to be her real name. Henrietta was too long.
