Photos finally! I was up very late Saturday night and into the wee hours of Sunday morning with Nubbin’s crew, but they’re cute enough I can forgive them.

Look! It’s a fuzzy bucket o’ love!

Tornado was the cork that stopped the whole delivery and kept us up so late. He was a strong kid and was up and walking in the usual amount of time, and he had no shortage of determination to nurse, but for some reason he just couldn’t find those teats. He adamantly refused help, and if I forced the teat into his mouth and squirted it full of milk, he would turn his head away without swallowing or latching on. He wanted nothing to do with nursing as long as I was interfering. But as soon as I’d set him down he would toddle around bumping the udder and suckling on everything at head level. He couldn’t figure out that he had to reach DOWN to find the milk spigot. Eventually I gave up trying to help him nurse and filled a bottle for him instead. That settled the matter and at least he went to bed with a full tummy. Next morning he still hadn’t caught on (even after watching his brothers), so I bottle fed him again. He was very hungry! It was Phil who finally got him nursing later that afternoon. Now he’s eating like a champ!

Little Storm was a bit of a sorry character that first day. He’s very bow-legged and his knees won’t straighten so he had trouble standing and did better on his knees. It didn’t hinder him from nursing, and maybe it helped because it meant that unlike the other two, he didn’t have to reach down to find the milk bar. He was a little straighter yesterday, and if he’s not a lot better today I plan to splint his legs for a while each day and see if that helps. His legs are straight and proper when I flex them, but it feels like his tendons are very tight and causing the legs to curl back. He cried a bit the first time I straightened them, but the next morning he only whimpered, and last night when I straightened them he stayed quiet and relaxed so I think he’ll be fine.

Lightning is perfectly fine with nice, straight legs. This guy really lives up to his name. He shot into the world without help, immediately started crawling toward the udder on his belly, got himself a drink without guidance, and next thing we knew he was on his feet and walking around.

Streeeeetch, Tornado!

“Just look at that there bow-legged cowboy! Should I give him a push?”

Yesterday the sky was beautiful, and Delilah once more brought her kids along for our daily constitutional (Jezebel and her kids stayed home again).

Phil no longer refers to Nubbin as having a “baby bump”. He’s calling it a “baby blimp”.

Large and in charge!

Heading home.

Delilah decided to bring her kids on our walk the other day! They were very excited and kept right up with the herd! They were a little scared of the big goats, but not because the big goats were mean. I think the little guys were just afraid of accidentally being trampled in all this mayhem. But everyone was careful and no one got stepped on.

Tigerlily practices her levitation exercises.

Finn surveys his domain from on high. Who are those little pipsqueaks down there?

Actually, I think he was just waiting for Phil to come give him peanuts.

“Dance, Finn!”

“Gobble down this grass before it disappears!”

So far Jezebel prefers to keep her kids close to home. No walks for these babies yet! Have I mentioned she’s a bit overprotective?
This shot is blurry, but I love the action.

Sox is king of the stump!

Delilah has a somewhat hands-off mothering style, so Jezebel often ends up watching all four kids.

“How did I get roped into this?”

Well, almost his last meal. At any rate it was his favorite. Garlic cheese knots from Viktorio’s Pizza! I’ve also included some older clips of Cuzco eating spaghetti, a loaf of bread, and some fruit cake. Silly, silly goat! Let’s eat to the beat!

We’ve been having waaayyy too much fun around here. An exhausting amount of fun, in fact. Phil was conked!

Sox and Sanibel were conked too!

I love how baby goats appear to have no bones in their necks.

We’ve been having quite a few baby goat parties on our couch lately. We’ve gotta get these guys hooked on TV at a young age. It’s the American way to parent!

Nubbin and Tigerlily are both due next weekend, and while Tigerlily is doing an excellent job maintaining her girlish figure, Nubbin is definitely “in a family way”!

I think she’s carrying triplets. Phil says quads. I hope not quads! She’s so tight I can’t even feel kids any more. Rubbing her belly is like rubbing a fuzzy basketball.

Nubbin is totally rocking the “pregnant waddle” these days.
Work it to the right…

Work it to the left…

And then there’s the svelte Tigerlily. Her grandmother, Lilly was similarly discreet about carrying kids. Phil and I are thinking she has just one.

I let everyone out into the Wide World today, and Jezebel immediately took her family and hid behind the house. I guess she’s doesn’t like the company we keep around here! The kids learned how to climb stairs!

Their first hike…

It was cool and shady behind the house, but perhaps a bit too cool and shady. The ground was still quite muddy from the previous rains, and I was afraid the kids would get damp and cold.

So I brought them back to the sunny side of the house where Jezebel was treated to apple cores and oranges. I guess she thought the move was worth it because she and her kids stayed there all day. In fact, Delilah left her kids with Jezebel and went off with the herd to graze. So much for motherly responsibilities! Jezebel did her duty and stayed with all four, never venturing out to eat anything herself, so I’m glad she at least got the fruit. I’m proud of Jezebel. She’s overprotective of her own kids as usual, but she’s changed this year in that she’s not being mean to Delilah’s babies. Jezebel has been known for being unreasonably mean to babies that weren’t hers in the past.

Jezebel likes giving Sox baths. Little Sox had trouble walking that first day when his foot kept collapsing forward, but the splint did it’s job and we were able to take it off that evening. Although I had not wrapped it tightly, it had still lost a little circulation, and Sox looked very funny when his “asleep” foot started tingling with extra blood flow! He was swatting and goose-stepping that one one leg for a few minutes, but we could see that he was much improved. Sox is walking perfectly today!

I love the spot Sanibel picked to take a nap! With her leg draped over the wood like that, it almost looks like I posed her, but she posed all by herself for these pictures.

The mamas do NOT like the dogs and start growling and snorting any time the dogs come near, but the dogs are very interested in the kids. Pluto is normally a very rowdy, rambunctious dog, but when he approaches the kids he calms right down and walks very slowly around them, sniffing and licking gently so as not to startle them. If a kid gets scared and jumps away, Pluto retreats with an apologetic wag.

What’s down there?

Can I reach under your belly?

I guess this crack made a cozy niche to take a nap because Coral and Westing wedged themselves right into it and stayed that way for most of the afternoon.

Actually, it was less dark since Jezebel went into labor a couple of hours earlier than Delilah did the night before. But it was definitely stormier! It turns out we got somewhere in the ballpark of 3-4 inches of rain in about 12 hours, so we were fortunate no one floated away.

Jezebel, as is usual with her, decided to take her pretty time with the first kid. We waited around while she pushed, but progress was slow since she kept getting up to look out the door. And every time she looked out the door she would see our dog, Daisy, who loves babies and was curiously watching from outside the fence. Jezebel didn’t want the dog watching her and would snort and stop pushing and the coming baby would slide back out of view. I had a Saddle Club meeting I really wanted to be at, so eventually I decided to move things along by holding Jezebel away from the door. Phil went to the back and found a hoof coming. He gave it a small tug, but it really didn’t want to come out yet. We waited a little longer but Jezebel wasn’t making much progress when she pushed and Phil didn’t want to interfere much so we traded places so I could have a look.

It turns out there’s a reason things weren’t progressing! First of all, there was only one foot presented. One leg back is considered a fairly normal presentation, but Jezebel is a small doe who was stunted because of poor nutrition when she was young. She does better with small kids properly presented on their due date. These kids were four days overdue. When I reached in I found an enormous, bulging forehead stuck fast in her narrow pelvis. I could tell from the large horn buds just below the surface that this was a buck. With a kid this big, I thought she might have an easier time if I could find the other leg and bring it to the surface, but I was unable to figure out which leg to look for. I could not for the life of me figure out if I was feeling the right or left leg, and when I reached around on either side of the baby to see if I could feel the other leg, I couldn’t find anything but ribs. It felt like I was delivering a three-legged kid! So I went with it and started to pull. Once I began pulling, Jezebel started pushing and we soon had baby out. The other leg was there. It had just been hiding so close to his body that I couldn’t tell it apart from the rest of him until he was out of the sac.

And here’s the first boy, brand new and shaking out the birthing fluids he’d inhaled.

His mom and I soon had him dried off.

I could tell there was another kid there. Jezebel has given us singletons two years in a row, but I could feel another hard bump inside her belly this time! At first, we thought the second kid would be easy. Jezebel barely started pushing and a big, dark mass came shooting out all at once. Alas, it was just a head. There were no legs presented at all and I knew she would need help with this one. Phil got Jezebel to her feet so I could try pushing baby back in, but she was already too far out and her neck was only telescoping. I had to reach in past her head to find a foot, and Jezebel was fighting me all the way. She was also trying hard to lay down again and Phil had his work cut out to brace her up. The front feet were all mixed up with the back feet, so it took me a little while to sort it out and make sure I wasn’t about to pull the wrong hoof. I had to close my eyes several times and try to envision what I was feeling. Elbow or hock? Knee or fetlock? I could feel the kid squirming, which was very reassuring and helped quell the rising panic. Once I was sure I had a front foot, I brought it forward and the rest was easy. The kid was tired but well. And our big buck had a precious little sister!

Poor Jezebel was exhausted. She had pushed very hard on that second kid and was spent. She licked baby a few times but then fell asleep. I let her be for a few minutes, but she really had me concerned. I woke her up after a while just to make sure she was ok. The catnap was all she needed. After that she was able to get up and help clean the second kid. She sure is adorable!

After the kidding, my work started! Our shed, which was so dry and well-bedded when we began, was now flooding with rainwater that had formed a river outside and was running under the bedding. These kids would never get dry in this weather! I removed all the old bedding and used it to make a dam around the shed. The river slowed to a trickle. I had to race (best I could pushing a wheelbarrow through ankle-deep mud) from the barn where the bedding was stored to keep the dry shavings and straw from getting soaked on the way. I was finally able to say goodnight at 9:30 p.m. The goats were dry and warm and I was soaked to the skin and frozen. Time for a hot shower and some dinner!

Today is lovely and I plan to take lots of baby goat pictures while the sun is shining!

And a few more photos from this morning while the sun was still shining. What a beautiful morning to welcome the new members of our herd!