Hindel Kidz 33: Bittersweet
Hindel Kidz # 33
Bittersweet
On February10, 2012, Grace found out Lainie and Becca had been bred. Grace was surprised because Rob had been over with the other bucks as far as she knew. Even though Jack said he wasn’t going to breed anymore, he decided to let Rob breed them. Sven, Grace and Rhonda all wondered why with all the trouble Jack had when it came to registered babies. If Grace’s calculations were right then out of the sixteen baby goats that had survived only eleven of them had been born naturally without any assistance from the vet. Lainie was bigger than Becca although it looked like Becca had more milk. Jack was considering asking Dr. Robb if he would watch Becca and Lainie when it got closer to the time they were going to kid. That way if there were any problems, Dr. Robb could do a C-section right then and there in hope of saving the babies. He was supposed to let Jack know, but never got back with him. So Lainie and Becca were going to have to take their chances with “home births.” The only way Jack would take them to the vet was if they couldn’t have their babies by themselves.
Jack got the birthing pen ready. Grace thought Lainie would have her baby first. She also thought Lainie might have twins. Hope and Faith were not too happy when Jack would lock Lainie in the birthing pen at night time. The birthing pen had been home to them since the day they were born. Faith was determined to get back in there one way or the other. Since the gate was closed she jumped up on the molasses container and over the top of the gate.
Grace thought she heard Jack say something about Lainie’s due date being March 4th. Although none of the goats had ever had their baby on their due date. At feeding time on March 7th, she noticed Lainie making soft little noises and looking at Jack the way Muffy did when she wanted to go outside. Jack said Lainie had been bleeping all day. Grace thought for sure she was going to kid soon.
The next day, March 8th, when they went up to feed, they noticed the building door was closed. At first, Grace didn’t think anything of it. It was raining and the goats did not like rain. Even though she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach Lainie might have had her baby. When she looked at the TV screen, she found she was right.
There was a little tiny baby lying under the heat lamp. It would get up walk a few steps and then fall over.
“She only had a single?” Grace asked.
“She had twins,” Jack replied. So Grace had been right about that. “But the buck didn’t survive.”
“And this one is…”
“A doe. And Lainie hasn’t claimed her yet.”
Sven said to give Lainie 24 hours for her maternal instinct to kick in. Grace hoped he was right.
The baby had been born around 8:20am. She was coming out head first with her front legs tucked up underneath her. Jack decided to pull her the rest of the way. She had to come out. He had pulled the buck out also.
There are cases with twins when one survives and the other one doesn’t. But this was the first time it had happened with a goat. Grace was sad the buck didn’t survive, but she was extremely grateful the doe had. Each baby goat born alive was a miracle, but this one seemed more of a miracle to Grace. The birth had been bittersweet. The baby had also been born the day before Lainie’s birthday so it was kind of like an early birthday present.
Rhonda wanted to know what Jack was going to call his new baby.
“Lucky?” was the first thing that came out of Jack’s mouth.
If that was the case then it would have to be Lucky Junior according to Grace since she had already named one of Porsche’s triplets Lucki. Although it would be a very fitting name for this baby. Grace was considering Rainey or Stormi because of the weather. Sven said Coco since the baby was dark brown. Grace and Rhonda thought it was a cute name. But Jack said, “No Coco.”
Jack tried to get Lainie to stand still to see if her baby would eat. Finally, Jack got Lainie up in the head gate to try and milk her. She didn’t want to cooperate. The baby started bawling. Grace felt so bad for her. Grace reached in and the baby came over and nudged her hand. She was just hungry. Rhonda held her while Jack force fed her. She drank two syringes full of milk. Lainie was licking Jack’s hand when she should have been licking her baby. She also kept an evil eye on Muffy. Muffy didn’t even know the baby existed. If she did she would probably be scared of it.
Then it was Grace’s turn to hold her. The baby turned out to be a sweetheart. She nuzzled Grace’s neck, chin and in her hair behind her ear. Since she wasn’t getting any love from her mommy she had to get it from someone or someplace else. Grace decided she would call the baby “Baby Lainie”…at least until it had a real name.
Hope and Faith came over to investigate. She was their biological niece as well as Jack in the Box’s. Rob was a daddy and he wasn’t even a year old yet. This was also Lainie’s first baby to survive and Elmer’s first great-grandkid.
By the second day Lainie had sort of accepted her baby. Jack had said she had been licking on it all day. He was surprised Baby Lainie had any hair left. She had eaten twice. Once while Lainie was in the head gate and the other when Jack had tied Lainie to the gate. Jack wanted her to get used to eating from her mother rather than the bottle. Jack said when he fed her with the bottle she usually drank around an ounce and half.
She was throwing a fit…Lainie not the baby. Lainie’s main concern was trying to get out of the birthing pen. She pushed against the gate and got her head stuck. Jack said she was being a pain in the rump.
When Grace was holding Baby Lainie again, she just nuzzled, nipped and pushed against Grace’s neck like crazy, but didn’t suck on her fingers. She continued to lay quietly in her arms. And she didn’t cry either even when Grace set her down. Grace tried to get her to eat again, but the baby just walked away. She must have been full.
The next day Lainie had let her baby eat once while being tied up and once not. Rhonda and Grace took turns holding Baby Lainie outside. Rhonda couldn’t have been happier when Baby Lainie fell asleep in her arms. Even though the baby was sweet Rhonda said Muffy was still her favorite animal. Muffy had jumped up in Grace’s lap not even knowing the baby was there. Lainie kept going back and forth from Jack to the building bellowing the whole time. But Baby Lainie hadn’t cried once.
As soon as Savannah learned about the new baby, she said she was going to show it at the fair. Baby Lainie was less than two days old. And after the new wore off, they all knew who would be walking it. Sure wouldn’t be Savannah. Jack said if Savannah showed Baby Lainie then her step-sister would have first dibs on the rest of the goats and how many she wanted to show. In the end she would have the better deal especially if Becca’s baby survived. Then she would have dibs on that one, too. Baby Lainie wouldn’t be the newbie anymore.
Savannah showed up the third day to walk her. She was barely three days old. Couldn’t Savannah have waited until Baby Lainie was little bit older and steadier on her feet? No wonder she was all tuckered out. You would be, too if Savannah had dragged you around the yard. Also by the third day Lainie finally decided being a mommy was not such a bad idea after all.
