The Waiting Game

And We Wait

Bianca is due on March 14, that is tomorrow.  And do we have kids yet, is the wait over?

Drum role please…….. NO

The waiting game is absolutely killer.  Don’t get me wrong, I love kidding season.  I love the babies, I love watching the mommas and their natural, innate ability to care for their little ones.  I love watching the sweet kids nursing from their mothers and seeing the amazing way that God has provided just the perfect food for the baby goats in their mothers milk.  I love the bouncing kids that seem to hop and dance with joy at the smallest provocation.  I love watching how Ethel and Lucy, the livestock guard dogs, care for and watch out for the baby goats in a way that I never thought a dog could care for a goat.  I love the sweet little high pitched squeaks that come from the little babies when they are looking for their mommas just around the corner.  I love the sweet little tiny noses nuzzling my hand for a little petting.  And I love the milk that we get to enjoy in our bellies after the kids get a little older.

But what I do not enjoy is the waiting game.

I do not like the wonder about the safety of our beloved goats.  I do not like the fear of a birthing gone wrong, or a kid getting stuck.  And most of all, I do not like the idea that our friends will have trouble kidding and I will not know about it because I am not home.

So I get up every 2 hours at night and check on the goats in the barn looking for any sign that kidding is imminent.  I come home at lunch time to check for those tell tale signs that a baby is hours away, and does that change anything.  No….. I still wait

Two weeks ago, I noticed that Biancas udder was getting noticably bigger. Last Thursday, Bianca’s girl parts softened up, clearly a sign that things were drawing closer.  On Friday,  those babies dropped.  I mean Bianca’s belly was a foot closer to the ground (ok, may just an inch or 2, but closer none the less) and all of a sudden, her hip bones were much more pronounced.  I could see the babies kicking and jostling in her belly, and her ligaments were softening up. (there are two ligaments that run from those hip bones to her tail that get soft and disappear as kidding draws near).  The only sign not showing is that her udder has not gotten noticably more tight, but that sometimes doesn’t happen till after kidding so no issue there.  So every sign is on target, yet I wait.

Come On Bianca!!   Oh, and dare I forget, Journey is due two days later and Esther 1 week later…….So we wait some more.

Keep checking back because I will surely have some stories to tell when all is said and done.