We had a BIG scare during Camo’s birth last night! This is our story.

We learned the hard way that all Mini Nubian goat births are not easy or text book! We would have had a dead Nanny goat and babies if we had not seen her go into labor. Thankfully god was watching over all of us!

We have been on baby watch with our Mountain herd of Mini Nubians for about 2 weeks now. Lucy and Penny have both given birth this week to beautiful twins, a doeling and buckling each. We went out to get the baby Mini Nubians to bring them in for the evening as we do every night and noticed Camo was in labor. I thought we had a while because I saw a small, thick, clear string about 6 inches long with no bubbles. I go inside and tell Jason to get dressed Camo was in labor, I was going to feed and get the little's inside. This took us about 10 minutes to do and Camo started pushing. We see what looks like a mouth crest with NO hooves. This is not good. We grab our emergency goat birthing kit and prepare to help her. By the time I got gloved up the head was out! She was screaming in pain and I was terrified but the adrenaline kicked in. I gloved and lubed up to go in. I started trying to get him back in so I could re-position the legs for his delivery. Every time I would push him, she would push. I could not get him back in. I found his leg that was bent with my fingers and couldn’t manipulate anything. So when she pushed I would pull. I was hoping to get this leg out and the other goat leg would be in position. I was also praying not to break it, hurt him or him. I managed to get the first leg out and couldn’t feel the second one or manipulate anything. The hubby gloved up and came to the rescue. He was able to pull with her pushes and get ahold of the babies shoulder area. We got him out! We were relieved. Mom walked off and I felt so bad for her. We only put fingers in here with lots of lube. She came back and started cleaning up this beautiful white baby boy. They were talking sweetly to each other. Was their another baby? If so what position was it in? Would we need to help? I wanted to get ahead of this situation.

After about 10 minutes I decided to bump this sweet mini nubian doe and see if she had another baby. I have never done this before but from everything I have studied, I was sure I felt another kid. I stepped back and told Jason we had at least one more. About that time, boom, another kid hit the ground. We didn’t even see her have a contraction or push. This one was covered in a thick sac and Jason was screaming it wasn’t alive. This baby was not moving. I reached down grabbed her to start removing the sack. It took both of us to get this slimy thing off her face. I immediately wiped he face with a towel and cleared her airway. She took a breath! I tilted her a little to help clear everything away and continued to remove this slimy mucus sac. She was alive and healthy. I bumped her again and didn’t feel anything else. We helped dry the F5 twins off and made sure they nursed. We quickly put together a make shift birthing suite setup for her since it was so late and gave the babies a heating lamp.

I have tons of research and prepared for a complicated birth in every way possible but nothing replaces experience. I had a birthing kit and a gallon of ob lube on hand. We had molasses and cayenne pepper for a non-responsive baby. I have antibiotics, pain medicine, and vitamin B complex. Our laundry room doubles as our goat medical closet. Sometimes I feel like I am a little off my rocker but when an emergency presents I usually have what I need to help. Thankfully this emergency baby kit has been sitting by the door with towels since we are in the middle of kidding season here at Cotton Bean Goat Farm in the little rural town of Mt. Pleasant, NC.

We both feel a little more confident in being goat parents. We are thankful to have a healthy Nanny and twins.