DoeDoe's Turn

DoeDoe the day we got her.

Saturday I had a party. It started out as an invitation for friends to come hold some goat babies because really, who wouldn't want to kick back and hold a soft, warm, little, adorable baby? Especially one you can give back if it starts crying. My two younger sons had a playday with a friend that day, and the mom mentioned that she'd always wanted to stop by the ranch and see all the animals especially since we had babies. And of course, with two families coming, it really wouldn't be a party without my favorite surrogate daughters. And sandwiches, a veggie tray, drinks and s'mores. With a fire. It was a great time!

Everyone was pretty reluctant to leave, and some (I won't name names) kept saying they better head home, but instead, moved closer to the fire. And closer still and kept visiting and remarking on how peaceful it was to be there.

Slowly, my party dwindled down to me, my kids and my spare kids. Angelica kept sneaking away from the fire to check on DoeDoe because we have a top secret method to get a sheep to go into labor. I won't go into details but it involves grooming. It's worked twice before. We figured DoeDoe was the third time charm.

When her dad came to pick her up and take her on home, she snuck away one last time, but didn't come back. Next thing I knew she was calling for me to come help. I figured something had gone wrong. Nope. DoeDoe was in labor. As we had planned all along of course.

It was very dark by then and she nested in the sheep pen across from DoeDoe with a battery powered light and a blanket. The other kids eventualy joined her to watch the babies come. It was very exciting for them. DoeDoe had two babies and was assisted by Angelica, the midwife, who made sure everyone came out okay and got their noses swiped clean so they could breathe. She even played udder police and shooed away Teenager Sheep's greedy baby who saw DoeDoe's udder as fair game.

I couldn't get good pictures of the babies until today, but she had one boy and one girl.