Smaller hands. Today, I so wished that I had much smaller hands. All went “normal” around our house until around 4:30 PM. This is when chaos broke loose many times over. Lillie headed out to bottle feed the children’s baby bull calf, Maverick, while Dennah took the rest of the children outside to enjoy the beautiful afternoon. Dennah turned the goats loose in the yard and Lillie also turned Maverick loose. All went well until it was quickly discovered while turning the goats loose that Missy, Becker’s goat who was a birthday present from Dennah, had two feet sticking out her back side. Missy was clearly trying to give birth and was not doing well with the process. The children’s “I like to stay in the house and keep warm” Mama was alerted of the problem and was out the door in a flash to see what could be done.
Now wouldn’t you know it, the Daddy person “who knows everything about animals” was in Norman being a hero to a couple of our renters and was at best, over an hour away. Okay, now was the time to roll up the sleeves, fire up the cell phones and get to the business of delivering a baby goat. With Brent asking all the right questions and Tamy and Dennah accessing the situation, we quickly discerned that the front feet were what we saw, the head was not heading the correct direction and the baby was not alive and dangerously stuck. Now the main concern was to save the mama goat above all else. The task at hand was to try and find the baby’s head and straighten it out to help Missy deliver the baby. Smaller hands. What Tamy so needed was smaller hands. As much as Tamy tried to manipulate the legs, search for the head and cause the baby to turn, her hands were just not small enough for the task.
On a side note, while all this was going on, Clay, Emma & Camie had gotten off the porch and were discovered by Maverick. He was having great fun chasing them around the yard while they screamed at the top of their lungs adding to the stress and making it hard to hear Brent on the phone. With all that was going on with Missy, it took us a moment or two to notice this was happening. UGH! Lillie found the event very amusing. Tamy would probably have also found it amusing but she had her hands in a goat and wasn’t up for that kind of shenanigans to say the very least! Lillie “saved” the triplets and headed into the house to help reduce the overwhelming chaos of the moment.
Back to Missy. While Tamy was trying to straighten things out, Dennah was doing her best to calm Missy and give her “hope” to hang on. Soon we discovered that Tamy’s hands weren’t going to do the job and smaller hands were needed. Dennah stepped right up without question to check Missy out but she also had hands that were too big. Okay, little hands. Who in the family has little hands? Where is Becker and Parker? After finding the boys amusing themselves with Maverick, we told them that their help was needed. Parker was not easy to convince. After doing what a boy of six can’t imagine himself doing, we had to concede that although his hands were little, he wasn’t up for the task. He did try and for that we are grateful. Later Lillie commented that Parker walked in the house after “helping” with his hands sticking out away from his body and a somewhat shocked look on his face saying “Yuck”. It didn’t take Lillie long to figure out what Mama had asked Parker to do. Becker readily helped out and claims he felt the liver. He did what he could but wasn’t able to feel what we need him to find. It is such a terrible feeling to know that an animal is suffering and you cannot help.
All this time, Brent was encouraging us and giving helpful hints while heading our way as fast as possible. About 30 minutes before Brent got home, Missy started to “give up.” Dennah discerned this quickly and we stopped working on Missy. We got her moving again, gave her grain and offered her water. She appeared to soon relax. Praise God! Another answer to the many heartfelt prayers that were being said on her behalf. Dennah stayed with Missy to comfort her while waiting for Daddy. We had children stationed at both gates so Brent could drive right in and get to work. Praise God for team work.
I am so thankful for all the experience Brent has with livestock. He was able to do what we could not. He got the baby out of Missy quickly and Missy was spared. We aren’t sure if there is another baby for Missy to deliver as of this moment. She is just so small and has suffered so much trauma that Brent did not want to check her out further at that time. We are watching her carefully and are ready to help out again if needed. The baby was very big and could easily have been the only one. Time will tell and we will let you know what the final outcome is. No matter what happens, we will give glory to God. As of 11:30 PM, Missy appeared to have delivered some placenta and was doing well. What a praise! A new baby goat would have been delightful but having Missy is a blessing enough. Becker wasn’t ready to say “good-bye” to his little friend and plans to treat her extra special tomorrow.
We hope your day went well. No hands that were too big, no being chased by a calf that was bigger than you or feeling that you couldn’t help in a situation when needed. But even if this is how your day went, we hope that you too were able to praise God and take comfort that He is in control of all things. Even when feeling so out of control!
*Photos above…Dennah & Becker on Becker’s 9th birthday right after Dennah gave Missy to Becker, Maverick~the “wild” triplet chasing calf, and some of our sweet goats.
