Twins!!!!

I meant to post pictures showing how pregnant all the does were so we could compare them when they got closer to their due dates.  Well I took the pictures, but never had time to post them and now Zephyr has given birth!!  So better late than never lol. 

In the picture above you can see her belly.  This was eleven days before she gave birth.  She doesn't look that huge compared to some goats who look like they are going to explode before they give birth.  At this point in her pregnancy the kids had already started to drop down low which is why she doesn't look that big around.  Do you see the lump on the left side of her face (your right side)?  That is a wad of cud.  She likes to keep cud in her cheek.  It's so weird because most goats chew and swallow it down, they don't carry it around like that.  When you feel her cheek the cud feels as hard as a rock.  She looks like a little old man with a wad of tobacco in her cheek lol.

I love this picture because it shows her markings so well and her baby belly.  I love her dorsal stripe and face markings.  She is so pretty.  She's so cute how she looks straight up at me when I'm leaning over to get belly shots from above.

 She has the sweetest face.

 Here you can see how low her belly is hanging and how she's getting milk in.

Over the next eleven days she got bigger and her udder was huge!  Then around 5:10pm on the 25th (her exact due date) hubby sent me this picture.....

... with the caption "if you want to see babies you better hurry home"

Ignore the red light, that's from the heat lamp.  I squealed in the middle of the office (not many people were there luckily, most everyone else leaves at five).  I hurried through the last of my work and rushed home.  I got home around 5:40pm and took this next picture.

I sat with her for a long time while hubby got the birthing kit and supplies we might need.  This was the first time I've sat with a goat during labor from the very beginning to the very end.  I watched Coral give birth, but I only saw the very end stages of labor literally right before Amethyst popped out, but I've missed all of the others even back when we were raising goats eight years ago. 

I took video of the birth, but I'll spare you guys since a lot of people are grossed out by it.  I'm very impressed with Zephyr, how calm she was and how quickly she gave birth.  It killed me to see her in so much pain.  I don't know how people used to give birth without drugs!!  She was so sweet because hubby would reach out and she would just rest her chin in his palm while he stroked her face.  I think she appreciated us being there with her.  She definitely wasn't bothered by us like I was worried she might be.

She had twins!  A solid black female with a white spot on her forehead and one on her side born at 7:30pm and a dark chocolate brown and white spotted male born at 8pm.  Sorry these pictures are in black and white.  The light from the red lamp was scary looking lol.  I love how she's licking the little boy in the second picture. 

I have to share a picture that made me laugh....

Zephyr had literally just given birth to the boy, he was still halfway in the sac, and the little girl was climbing over the top of her.  This was my first time seeing a Myotonic give birth and I am super impressed with the kids compared to Boer kids.  The female was literally standing in less than a minute after being born and was nursing in less than half an hour.  The boy unfortunately inhaled some liquid because he got trapped in the sac and we couldn't get to him fast enough to get it off his face.  We held him upside down and patted his sides to get the liquid out of his lungs and used a bulb syringe to clean out his nose and mouth.  He will be fine, but it took him slightly longer to get up and nurse compared to his sister.  He's doing great now though and he was still much faster on his feet than Boers.  You may not remember but last year Topaz's kids took two hours to get to nurse and had a weak sucking reflex.  They were also selenium deficient and after a shot of Bose they were completely normal so it's not a totally fair comparison, but I'll be curious to see the difference when the Boers kid out this year since we have all of their nutrients corrected.

We tied off and dipped their umbilical cords, then we took the kiddos out to weigh them and I got a picture away from the red heat lamp....

The pretty girl! She weighed exactly 5 pounds.

The adorable boy.  He weighed 5 pounds 3 ounces.

I'm sad we are probably going to have to sell him.

Trying not to get attached... trying not to get attached...

We put them back with mom and Zephyr finished her supper (it was interrupted by labor) and got a big drink.  Then she looked up at us and one of us snapped this shot (don't remember who had the phone at the point).  She looks proud of herself.  You did great girl.

The next day (yesterday) I had to leave work early from a migraine.  I took medicine and when I got to feeling better I went out and sat in the stall with Zephyr and her kids.  They were bouncing around on their adorable little pogo legs and came to me full of curiosity.  The female loves to be scratched on her back and head.  The boy doesn't care to be touched very much.  He's more skittish in general than the female.  We will get him tamed down in no time.  Amethyst was a tad skittish when she was little too.  I snapped a couple of pictures after they all settled down for a nap.

The little boy kept trying to lay on his sister's head, but she wouldn't cooperate so he finally went to the other end and laid on top of her. Eventually gravity slid him down next to her.  I guess that's one way to ensure a close cuddle hehe.

Aren't they adorable?  Big sister was getting really annoyed while he was getting situated, but eventually they both settled down for a nap.

 Zephyr laid down beside me to chew her cud.  She asked for face rubs, but eventually wanted to rest so I left them alone. 

We don't have any other does due until mid next month, so I'll try to post the pictures I took on the 14th tomorrow so we can compare them to when they get closer to their due dates.  That's all for now.  Later!