::goat baby::

Emme - three days before delivery

This time things did not go so well.  Our doe's water broke and she pushed and pushed.  Finally I knew it was taking too long and I checked things out more closely.  The baby was both legs back and head first.  Totally stuck.  It took us forever to get him out and finally Josh had to do it.  Poor little baby goat did not survive.  He was stuck too long.  It was terrible.  One very large caramel buckling.  He was just too big.  Luckily Josh was home.  With his patience and strength he got him out and saved the mama's life.  I think it says a great deal about his love for me that he has gone from a goat hater to goat midwife.  He still claims to hate goats, but he loves me enough to help me.  The mama was very sad, but we brought her six month old baby back in with her and she seems to be recovering quickly.  

Emma and I had a long talk about that when something is dead you can not bring it back.  She says she wants to be a nurse (wouldn't that be amazing?) and that fact is a hard lesson to learn.  Why can we save some babies and not others?  Because that is the way it is.  No way around it.  Emma said, "Brooke, thank God you're a nurse so you know stuff.  No way could you have saved that baby.  You did everything right."  Seriously?  Soothing me?  She is 14 by the way.  An age of selfishness.  But not for her.  I really love that kid.   

Mental heath side note - don't worry.  I promise.  I am appropriately sad about the baby goat.  It stinks.  It's a bummer.  It is a reality of having farm animals.  This is not a set back or a flash back.