Sad Day

About an month ago, our sweet Pygmy goat, Grace, started falling down a lot and seemed to be wheezing. We had a big fire in the area and there was a lot of smoke from the fire lingering, so while we knew that Grace was getting old, I was  hopeful she just had a respiratory infection. (DH thought she was just getting old and was on her last legs) We brought her in the house and cared for her and dosed her up with B vitamin injections and Robitussin for a week/ She improved a great deal so we put her back out with the rest of the herd. The problem we encountered, though, is that they weren't being very nice to her. (DH was concerned that the rest of the goats were trying to thin the herd) They were constantly head butting her and chasing her away from the feed. So, like a good husband, DH built a pen next to the yard where we keep the goats. That way, she could be near the herd but wouldn't be bullied.

After a week, she was so much better, we started letting her back in the yard with the herd for short periods of time and no one was bothering her, so I moved her back in, full time. Things seemed fine, although sometimes she seemed a little less energetic than usual. Yesterday, I noticed that she was moving kind of slowly, but she wasn't wheezing or acting sick in any way so I didn't bring her in the house (with the puppies in the house it didn't seem like a good idea to bring a potentially sick goat inside). But sadly, this morning, when I went to feed everyone, she wasn't with the herd. In fact, she wasn't anywhere to be found. I called for her and called for her and looked everywhere. Then, I thought that maybe, since it had been raining, she might have gone under the shed that's in their yard (it's built on a hill so there's a clearance of about 4 feet). Sadly, that is where I found her. She looked like she was just sleeping, but after climbing under the shed, I realized that she had passed in her sleep during the night. I am thankful that she seemed to have gone peacefully but will miss her immensely. She was my favorite goat and always wanted love and affection from me at feeding times and whenever I went in the yard (as opposed to the other goats who are just interested in whether or not I have food).

My Sweet Gracie Girl

We missed O but... puppies!

For a long time, I have suspected that I only O one or two good eggs a year. While I get occasional cross-hairs on FF and positive OPKs, I never get any other symptoms of O (i.e. it's usually as dry as the Sahara down there at O time). Last year, I think I had a strong O in July and in December which was unmedicated and resulted in a CP. Wouldn't you know it, the day after the puppies were born I had a strong O? It was like a slip and slide down there ya'll. And wouldn't you also know it, we missed it due to momma's labor, delivery and complete exhaustion on our parts. DH fell asleep and I couldn't bring myself to wake him up because I knew I had to stay awake until he got up at 2 am to relieve me from puppy duty. I knew that if I woke him, he'd sleep later than 2 and I would have to stay awake longer! Now of course I am bummed and wish I had woken him but hindsight is 20/20.

Sigh.

On the plus side, we have puppies. Lots of adorable puppies. I love them, I love snuggling them. But I will say that it's a damn good thing they are so cute because when I have to get up to supervise feedings three times a night and look around our house and see that it looks like a bomb went off, I am none too pleased with them. But then I see these little faces and my heart melts!

Puppies

The puppies have arrived! Dakota went into labor yesterday (11/4) but didn't start popping out pups until 10:00 this morning (11/5). We were told, by our vet, to expect eight pups but I kept looking at that x-ray picture and was sure there were nine in there. When we got to eight, I started to doubt my counting because she certainly wasn't acting like any more were coming but low and behold, a half hour after the eighth, a ninth arrived. Certain she was finished, I got her whelping box cleaned out, changed her blankets and settled all the pups in for a feeding. I was shocked when she started pushing again and out came number TEN!

So we have ten, adorable, healthy pups and one tired but content momma. Even though I will have to be up every two hours for the next week, to supervise feedings, I am overjoyed. I love caring for all the pups and keeping a record of every milestone for their family's to have. It makes me happy to know that we are going to be able to give other's the same joy and happiness we have experienced due to having our own fur babies in our lives.

This time around I am particularly excited to be passing on this joy to one of our soon to be fur parents. We ask any perspective fur parents to fill out an application and then I end up corresponding with them via email for a while before they come to meet their pup. I like to be sure that every puppy placement is truly a forever placement so I like to get to know the new owners. Obviously, people are also interested in knowing about DH and I, so I'm never surprised when they find my FB page or find out some detail about us by googling us. This time, one of our perspective parents came across my public IF blog. She emailed me to tell me she had found it and shared her story with me: she wants a puppy because after many failed attempts to have her own child, including surrogacy, she is now living child free, not by choice. While we always encourage people without children to adopt a dog from a shelter, we sometimes make exceptions to our rule. This is one of those times. I get to spend the next eight weeks, raising her fur baby who will be her child. It may sound silly, but I feel pretty honored to be able to give her a little bit of something she has longed for.