Kudos To Dr. K.

I just love our vet.

I want to be clear about that.

Whatta guy.

Chickory B. kidded this afternoon, and all did not go well.

Long story short, and eliminating most of the gory details...

We had a brief toad strangler this afternoon, and when it was over i headed out to check on the girlz, assuming (correctly) that Chickory would be in labor since the weather was foul and everything was soupy and nasty.  Not only was she in labor, she was busy cleaning up a kid, and working on another.

As the labor progressed, however, there was a mass of ugliness being expelled.  At first i thought we were dealing with prolapse, but as more of the mass became visable, i realized whatever was going on was way beyond my realm of knowledge.

Took a couple of quick pictures, and while making transfer from camera to computer, tried to get Susan Dear Susan on the line.  Many thanks to The Queen Mum for rousting Susan out of her nap (sorry, sister!)  By the time i got ahold of Susan, i just about had the pictures in an email.  As soon as she got a look, she said this was vet territory.

Of course it was 5:15pm. 

Of course the office was closed.

But Good Old Dr. K. took the call, and was walking into my barn about 20 minutes later.  This is amazing because we live about 15 minute from his office.

He got a handle on the situation, and his fabulous assistant Zack helped me load Chickory into the truck and off we raced for an emergency C-Section.

While Dr. K. and Zack performed the surgery, Elly May and Jethro did all the kid care on the doeling by themselves, then handled the switcheroo with all the other goats, moving the does into the buck pen and the bucks into the sweetgum pen so that Chickory could convalesce in private in the doe barn.  By the time i got home with Chickory around 8pm, all the chores were done and everything was ready, all we had to do was cart Chickory into the barn and give her lots of love.  My babies are so awesome.  Thank you chillwren.  Your mama loves you.

The yucky facts are that there was another kid, fully formed, but was disemboweled during birth, and it was the intestines that were being pushed out.  The kid was folded up and not positioned to come out on it's own.  As we were taking care of the paperwork, Dr. K. said, "When i walked into your barn, I thought we had a dead goat on our hands, but she came through it like a champ."  He also commented several times about how responsive she was to me.  Naturally!!!  That goat and i love each other!!!

There is more, but i will spare you.

All's well that ends well.

Chickory Blossom is up on her feet, ate a good dinner, and was staring thoughtfully at the hay.  (I was sitting next to her as she ate, talking to her, and at one point she stepped over to me and put her face next to mine for a few moments, then stepped back to her bowl.  Just letting me know everything was alright, i guess.)

Peach Blossom (to be called Peaches) weighed in at 8 pounds, is in perfect health and condition, has a voracious appetite, and is standing and complaining already.  And she is gorgeous.  Pictures forthcoming.

I am now going to go mix myself an adult beverage.