I stuck
my finger inside his mouth immediately to take his temperature, and seeing that
it was way too cold, I scooped him up, put him in my coat and hurried back to
the house. (Maybe this narrative is a bit dull to my animal-familiar readers,
but it was a hugely exciting time for me.) I placed him into a garbage bag, and
the bag into a warm bathtub-ful of water. Some two or three new warm tub-fuls
later, he began to kick and try to get up. Back out to the barn he went, to see
if his mother would accept him back as her baby. Thankfully, she did, and he
began to nurse not long afterwards. What an amazing experience! That evening
when I got back to my home, I realized that I had been wearing my brand new
Christmas gift of a coat underneath my Carhartt, and by sticking the lamb in
there, I had also introduced to my coat everything that the lamb had been
laying in, and was already covered with. Now, I pride myself (never a good
habit) with having the lifestyle of a ‘non-girly’ individual, so I didn’t lose
my head over such a silly thing, especially since it had certainly helped to
save a life! What a wonderful thing! But the stains came out surprisingly easily,
just so you know. :)
On Wednesday I got a call to come back to Infinity Farm and
help with the sheep some more, just because of the delicate nature of lambing,
especially with the added danger of the cold. Brian had to go to work, and
Jenna could use an extra set of hands. So just as I was heading out of the
house I received a VERY exciting and concerning text from Mom K. P,
T's twin, and his wife L had been up all of Tues-Wed. night because
L had started having contractions! As thrilling as this was, the downside
was that she was making little progress. (L was with child, by the way.) I
helped around the house in-between barn checks, and was constantly thinking of
P, L & baby.
About at noon, Jenna and I discovered a ewe named
Galaxy, and her set of triplet male lambs that had been born in the hour since
our last visit! As nice as that was, there was a constantly looming desire for
the lambs to be female; this sheep farm is a dairy farm, after all! On the next
barn tour at one o’clock, we discovered a ewe that was beginning to labor. Rose
had quadruplets last year, and triplets the two years before that. With sheep,
when they have a certain number of lambs one year, they are expected to have
the same amount or more each recurring year. Rose’s quads had been TINY though,
so Jenna thought she just might have three this year.
(Just, ha! Can you
imagine?) Their sheep usually labored for 15-30 minutes from beginning to
birth, and any multiples spaced 5-10 minutes after that. So Jenna and I resolved
to check on Rose again in 15 minutes. When we came back, she was still just walking
around, eating every now and then, sitting down to push, and repeating the
cycle. So Jenna gave her 30 or so more minutes, but this time I stayed behind
to watch. At about thirty minutes, I got too cold, so headed back to the house.
By this time it was three o’clock, and Brian returned from work. He and I went
back to the barn to see what to do about this sheep that had been laboring for
so long. It had been at least two hours! Jenna had consulted a ‘sheep manual’
of sorts during this time, and was refreshing her knowledge on how to assist
with lambing if necessary. All three of us headed out to see what we could do
for this ewe, rubber gloves and sheep book in hand.
 |
| You can hardly see #1 up by Rose's head, just his little white spot! |
When we arrived, there was FINALLY something visible coming
out of the birth canal! A nose and….. One hoof. This explained a LOT. One of
the lamb’s front legs was caught behind a pelvic bone, and couldn’t get out. So
by quickly consulting the book, Jenna discovered just how she needed to
intervene in order to get the lamb out safely. I held Rose’s head, Brian
watched, Jenna pushed, twisted, and pulled all while pleading and encouraging
Rose and the baby. We were all so glad when that lamb dropped! Jenna quickly
cleared the nose and checked for the gender. Lamb # 1 was almost completely
black, with a white forelock, and male! And he was big! 8 pounds at least. Lamb
#2 followed soon after. He was born with a normal 2-hoof-1-nose presentation.
While #2 was smaller than #1, he was still much bigger than any of last year’s
quads had been at birth. Yes, male! And SO cute! Mostly white, with two black
eyes and four nickel-sized spots along his spine at his shoulders.
 |
| Myself, #2, #1(the invisible one), and Omega. |
#3 was
bigger than #1! This lamb was in the same position as #1, with one leg back. I
guess they were just big! He was male, and almost completely white. Jenna was
watching as the brood grew, and she was exclaiming with surprise that the three
boys had all fit! And then I was saying, “Jenna…. Look!” Two hooves this time,
but Brian quickly realized that they weren’t front hooves. The lamb was breach.
Jenna quickly grabbed the hocks, and Brian read instructions to her while I
held Rose still. The tricky thing with breach birth is making sure the ribcage
of the lamb doesn’t get caught on the pelvic bone of the ewe. #4 was the same
size as #1. Four babies! Big, normal-sized babies! And number 4 was a girl!
Finally! She was the last of the seven new lambs that day, and the only female!
For this reason she was named Omega the next day. :)
The second lamb was obviously the runt, and both he and
Omega were a bit weak, so they came into the house for a while to get warmed up
and fed. Omega perked right up and was ready to go out again before long, but
#2 was apparently going to be a bottle-fed house lamb, just because he was weaker
and for SOME reason Brian and Jenna thought four babies for one mama might get
a bit overwhelming. I headed home for the night.
Now in all of this, P & L had started the day at
the hospital, laboring. Somewhere in the morningtime they decided to go back to
her parent’s house to rest for a while. In the afternoon/evening they went back
to the hospital. I went to bed that night after a text from Mom saying she’d
inform me of any baby news, even if it happened in the middle of the night. On February
5th I woke up at 5:50 a.m. Eastern time, and immediately checked my
phone, but no news. At 5:57, my phone buzzed! I sat straight up and grabbed the
phone. Baby N was here! I cried and laughed and praised God. What an
amazing miracle! Even though I won’t meet her for several months, I’m already
captivated by her. Every day since her arrival I’ve been bragging about her to
anyone who will listen. I’m amazed at how she’s unwillingly stolen my heart. :)
I was called back to the farm that day just in case of
anything crazy happening. Galaxy’s
smallest lamb and Rose’s #2 were both designated as bottle babies. I got to sit
on the living room floor and dry them off and cuddle them after their baths. I
admit I’d made a favorite of lamb #2, and now Jenna was saying that they needed
names…. So I eventually brought up the already decided name of Ellipsis for #2.
And we decided on Mark for the other one, because of his exclamatory ! wool. :)
 |
| Ellipsis, Mark, and Brian & Jenna's youngest - baby R! |
Throughout the day it became more and more apparent that
Mark was getting stronger and Ellipsis was not. He wouldn’t eat or stand, and
just slept on my lap for four hours straight. Jenna researched in the sheep
book, and together we concluded that his umbilical cord had been chewed too
short, resulting in a fatal infection. Ellipsis was cared for and warm, and he
died sometime that night.
 |
| R playing with Ellipsis on my lap |
On Friday I had the unexpected pleasure of getting to go and
see my maternal grandparents! I have been so loved by them, and it’s not often
we get to just sit and talk anymore.
 |
| Twins! |
My Grandma Judy had a stroke just a few years ago, and has
had declining memory abilities ever since. I am so in love with her, and it is
sad for me to see her frustrated when she realizes that she’s repeating a
conversation or knows that she’s forgotten something important. She is so
loving, despite it all. She needs no excuse to smile and laugh and hug and kiss.
She fostered my love for music in its infancy, she sang me to sleep countless
times, and was a primary care provider for my first couple years of life as my
mom was working part time. My Grandpa Roger is the best definition of
dependable I’ve ever seen. He taught me how to be safe when doing anything, and
he is fiercely passionate about caring for me and his other grandchildren. He
has never wavered in consistency as Grandma has had difficulties, and you can
just SEE how deeply he loves her when he looks at her.
All this to say, life is so, so precious. Little Ellipsis
was a precious creation of our Maker, and I was blessed by his little life.
Darling, sweet N is one of the most beautiful things I have ever
seen in my life. She has captured my heart. My grandparents have become a
tangible proof of God’s love in my life.
There was a time in my past when I attempted, more than
once, to end my life.
I believe that Satan knows just how precious life is, and
just how much our Father loves us, and it disgusts him. He also knows that one
of the biggest chinks in my armor is my struggle with joy. But he can’t have
me. He can’t have me because my Savior is fighting for my heart. He has already
won the war. My Jesus is lavishing His love on me. This God, who died that I
could live, continues to pursue me and draw me nearer. He gives me these
undeserved gifts in my life so that I can see that much more of a wider scope
of how IMMEASURABLY much HE loves me.
My Father, my Lover, my Friend.
 |
| His children are the most precious of all God's creations. |
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we
should be called children of God!
And that is what we are!
1 John 3:1
This has been a very interesting season for me... I've been very alone, very adult, and learning a new thing just about every hour. I've been through training to become a volunteer firefighter, and have been taking three college classes this semester, one of which was the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) program and was worth 7.5 units. (That's a lot, in case you don't speak college.)
