GRAPHIC: Becca Gives Birth

Becca with her kid

Plans changed.

We thought I was going to make two double batches of soap and then work on some lotions for delivery to our friends at Tiller & Rye in Brewer, ME. Sean thought he was going to frame in and install a door in Bucksport, ME. Nope. By 8 am, plans changed. 

Mid-delivery.

Becca was in active labor, pushing. A few days earlier than I had planned, but nothing to worry about. A quick check showed perfect placement; nose and hooves getting ready to greet the world. Larger than I would like to see in a goat of her size, which made me think she probably had only a singleton coming. I HATE singleton births. In my experience, 9 out of 10 times, a single kid is larger than kids born as twins. As such, they often require assistance. Sometimes that assistance is not enough and the kid or the mother is lost.  

First Milk.

Still, Becca is a pro at this and I was aware of the potential risk, but I wasn't overly concerned. Within an hour, and with very little help from us, Becca delivered a strapping, healthy son. Like Tabby's son, Riker- he was a monster in size and was quickly able to stand, walk, and nurse. 

Cleaning.

Julia in labor

Just as Becca was finishing her delivery, Julia went into labor. Julia is a two-year-old, first freshener. (A first freshener means that this is her first pregnancy.) First pregnancies always make me nervous. Complications can happen to any goat, but I always worry more the first time through. I think it has to do with (1) the uncertainty of what might happen and (2) past bad experiences with unproven does. Does tend to follow trends, like whether their milk comes in early or later or how long they labor. With record keeping, (and barring fluke occurrances) you can almost map out a delivery. As to the second point, our worst experiences seem to come from young, inexperienced does. Julia worried me so much more than Becca. Would she have ring womb (failure to dilate)? Would she have kids in bad positions for delivery? 

My gut felt wrong. We messaged our local group of goat folks and asked neighbor, Shea Rolnick from @Knotty Goat Soapery to be on stand by. Sean called our veterinarian, Dr Caputo of Belfast Veterinary Hospital to let her know we might have a problem. Then, we waited. 

The first stage of labor can take some time. Does will sit and stand- seemingly unable to find a comfortable spot (I remember this well from my own pregnancies!), stare off into space, may want to eat or go off food. Until they start actively pushing, there isn't a lot to do. We try to keep the doe as comfortable as possible and wait with her. Around noon, Julia was still in the first stage and seemed to be making slow progress; her vulva was opening and a small stream of mucus started.  Knowing we could still be hours away, Sean and I went inside for breakfast and to warm hands and feet. We continued to check on her every few minutes. 

Around 1:30, Julia began to really dilate and actively push. We could just see a hoof. It was big. Too big really, but we weren't overly concerned yet. 30 minutes later, we messaged Shea asking her to come out. Julia continued pushing to no progress. I gloved up, slathered on lots of lubricant and carefully felt inside to feel what the situation was. I felt the right front hoof and head just above that. I slipped fingers along the other side, but couldn't feel the second hoof. Not perfect, but still maybe workable. I was most concerned with the kid's size. Normally, I would begin attempting to pull a kid, if I can, but concerned about the size, not wanting to put Julia through unnecessary pain if she was going to need a C-section at the vet, and knowing that a second opinion was only minutes from arriving, I decided to wait. 

Shea arrived and repeated my exam. She was also concerned with the size of the kid presenting. She attempted to pull the kid very gently, just trying to see if there was any wiggle room and quickly ascertained there wasn't. We were Veterinarian bound. 

At the Veterinarian

We carried Julia to Sean's van and drove the 20 minutes to Belfast. They took her in immediately. We waited in the parking lot. We explained we were willing to pay for a C-section if needed. About 40 minutes later we got the call telling us that the kid did not survive, but Julia thankfully did. 

Julia was sent home with pain meds, an antibiotic and instructions for watchful care over the next 72 hours. Back in the barn, Julia settled into her private stall and ate grain and hay with a decent appetite, but not her normally voracious vigor. That is to be expected with the pain meds she was given. 

It is always heartbreaking when we lose an animal- even one we hadn't truly met. We'll spend the night examining all the decisions we made; it is easy to second guess each one. And, we'll balance that with visiting with sweet, healthy kids and our beloved herd. 

Becca & Healthy Son

For those keeping track. We have had seven healthy kids born to five mothers; and one mother with a lost kid. By our count, we have ten more deliveries for 2021 before we can breathe easy. I hope the rest of them are as easy as the first five were. 

Thanks for visiting with us tonight, Friends. 
Sean & Sonja

GRAPHIC IMAGES: Complications During Goat Kidding: Becca's Delivery

Kidding season is awful. It just... is. For every three stories of it all going textbook perfect, you have one that goes sideways. Maybe only a little; a kid who needs a little help getting started with nursing. I live in dread of the big problems; the kids stuck in a birth canal and the necessity of a Cesarean, a kid presenting poorly and someone needs to pull the kid, a mother who doesn't make it. So many things can go wrong. I hate the feeling of inadequacy, the hind-sight of if only I had done... I like order and predictability. Goats throw well-laid plans out the window when they aren't kidding. A pregnant doe is about as predictable as the wind. Every respectable doe knows The Doe Code of Honor (read link) and lives by it. We have assisted or been present at more than 50 goat kiddings over the past 6 years. Though the vast majority of the kiddings went relatively smoothly, those that didn't, haunt me. And while I appreciate that each tragedy has taught me lessons, I would vastly prefer to live in a world that these things don't happen.

This year has been rough emotionally. We had a run of 10 births with no complications or slight issues that were easily fixed and both Mother and kid thrived. But, then we started the season losing Salome because her kid died while it was inside her and caused an infection that shut down her system. Even with the help from Shea from Knotty Goat Soapery and our veterinarian's assistance, we lost both Mom and kid. Salome's daughter, Ruth, went into labor about a month early. Ruth survived kidding, but we lost her kid. He wasn't viable that premature. Chloe's kidding was the first time we had a kid present with one leg and head and the other leg pinned straight back across his body. He survived the birth, but we lost our sweet Chloe to kidding complications a week after. Becca's kidding was the first time we had a kid present with its head twisted backwards and upside-down. Becca survived, but we lost her kid. All in all, 15 does were pregnant this season (Lydia has yet to kid- that should happen this coming week.); we lost two Mothers due to complications with kidding. We had 17 kids born to us this season; we lost Salome's kid with her, Ruth had her son prematurely, Becca's was twisted in the wrong position and died during the delivery, and Naomi kidded her baby in the night in the field alone. In addition to these heart-breaks, Bailey contracted mastitis after kidding and her son, Franklin was treated for pneumonia. Phoebe rejected her daughter, Benny, in favor of adopting Chloe's son, Captain, so we had our first bottle baby that needed to be raised inside our home this season, too. Another first, Cassie- the doe I was most hoping for kids from- was covered by Asher in October. I was there. She was in heat. Love was in the air. My expectations ran high. Cassie gained weight. She looked and acted pregnant. Right on schedule, 150 days later, her water broke... only there was no kid. There was no pregnancy. Cassie was our first case of pseudo-pregnancy. There is a good article about it HERE. So, no Cassie babies this year. Each year presents new and different challenges. This year has been a rough, terrible season of "firsts".

It is easy to dwell on the terrible things and all the "What ifs..." But, I cannot live that way for long. Flipping the stats around: We had 13 does who survived kidding season in good health and we have 13 kids who are thriving, bouncing balls of energy. According to our most recent fecal examinations, the barberpole worms that have plagued us in year's past are being managed well. Our bucks have all been moved out of the barn and away from the does completely, which means we have some hope that next year's breeding season will be more in our control. (It's okay to laugh at that sentence. But, I can hope.)

Image from Goat Vet Corner on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/groups/goatvetcorner/

I recorded a video this morning in my studio about what happened with Becca's delivery. It is unedited and unscripted, so understand that my wording is not as precise it would be otherwise. I want to clarify the 30-30-30 rule I share in the video: Once the 2nd stage of labor has started (water breaks and pushing starts), you wait 30 minutes before intervening- unless something is obviously wrong. This is a rule of thumb, not absolute law. If there is something obviously wrong, get help. If 30 minutes passes and there is no progress, it is time to check internally for problems. Gloves on, lots of lubrication and gently try to feel out the situation. Keep your fingers together. You want to feel hooves and head. Use the chart I shared to visualize what you are feeling. (I have that chart saved to every device I own.) Once one kid is delivered, you wait 30 minutes for any other kids. Do not immediately try to pull the kid. If it can be born on its own, that is preferred. The Goat Vet Corner Group on facebook is invaluable. In this group you ask a question, and veterinarians answer the questions. While it is no substitute for a good relationship with your personal vet, I have learned so much there. There are many threads that deal with complications during delivery and explain the 30-30-30 rule better than I have. :)

After delivery, Becca felt weak, but with a good appetite.

Secondly, I want to be clear and candid. Becca's kid was alive when labor started. My misreading the situation contributed to her death. If I had gotten things right, I could have maybe pushed the kid back into the uterus to reposition the head and get it facing forward. If I had gone with my gut after the initial 30 minutes passed without progress and taken her to Dr. Tanja, she might have survived. (I changed my mind about going because there seemed to be progress after that. I saw and felt the hoof. Also, I was still waiting for a call back to see if she was home and available.) If I had called Shea sooner, she might have been able to turn the kid. I blame myself for getting it wrong. And that is just. Sean said, "Sonja, you know that there is no guarantee that anyone else pulling the kid would have changed the outcome. Sometimes it goes wrong." Shea consoled me with, "You will never forget what that feels like, Sonja. If you ever come across that again, you will know it." They are an amazing support system. But, they are wrong in this. This one was on me. I was not good enough this time. If I had understood the presentation properly, I would have known to push the kid back in to try to turn the head. I may not have been successful. It is a very tight space and the head was behind the pelvic bone, but I would have failed doing the right thing and not because I made a mistake. The one thing that is true is that I did my best. Doing nothing was a certain death sentence on both Becca and her kid. I called Dr. Tanja and left a couple messages. Time ran out and something had to be done. I did what I thought was the right thing. I was wrong and it cost Becca's kid her life. But, it saved Becca's life, too. And, Shea is partially right: I will never forget any of it.





Becca is recovering well and we hope for a complete recovery for her. The image on the left is a close up of the placenta still unpassed. We need to watch for a retained placenta and the complications that that would add. We are milking her several times each day to stimulate contractions to help with it's expulsion.

Becca is active this morning.

We are almost finished with kidding season. Only Lydia is left to kid. I am looking forward to putting another season behind us. Spring and summer have never looked so good.


Thank you for visiting with us. The road is not always an easy one, but I appreciate your sharing it with us.

~Sean & Sonja