Oscar

Meet Oscar. Oscar the llama. He's our sheep guardian. He has been around our farm for going on two years now and I love him dearly. I had wanted a llama for years, so you could say he was one of my dreams come true. The problem with Oscar is he loves to take our sheep for long walks across the street to a greener buffet. This isn't just some dirt road you only see one car go down each day... no, it's pretty busy. Not by city standards, but by country standards. I would say at least 10-20 vehicles go by on an average hour. The reason our herd is able to cross this road is because there is one side of our property not fenced in. There are several reasons we haven't fenced it in:
1. We're renting here and our landlord says we'd have to leave the fence if we put it up (legally, he doesn't have a leg to stand on, but it's still a hassle we don't want to deal with).
2. Our landlord is trying to get someone to rent the property for grazing purposes even though the property was included in the contract we signed.
3. It would cost a LOT to buy all the posts and barbed wire.

Last year Oscar took the sheep for this walk across the street about once a day and then we'd have to drive over there and chase our herd back. This year it has been more like 2-3 times a week that we've found out livestock across the street, but that's still not good. We got a notice from the animal control saying that we're going to be fined $500 if our animals get caught on the road again! Apparently, even though we haven't actually caught our animals in the process of crossing, someone else has. So, we've decided that since we're not going to be putting a fence up and are unwilling to feed them hay all summer (it's just not worth the cost) we're going to sell Oscar and our herd of sheep. Whenever we have our own place (somewhere where we can grow our own hay) we'll get more sheep and probably another llama. We were planning on making a move like that this year, but it didn't work out. So... goodbye, Oscar.

Last October

Today I was working on organizing all the photos I need to scrapbook. I've been two years behind in scrapbooking for awhile now, so I decided to put half of the photos in some photo albums that have a place for journaling beside the pictures. I figured that at least this way I'd be able to write down memories beside the photos and not be two years behind in scrapbooking the rest of my life. Or worse - longer than two years. I'd prefer to be able to scrapbook newer pictures while I still remember which baby the photo is of, what happen around the time the photo was taken, etc. It makes for better journaling. Anyway, as I added photos into these new albums today I came across some photos I took mainly for the purpose of this blog, but never got around to posting. I decided to post them along with captioning in spite of it being nearly a year since they were taken (October '08). So, without further ado...

Brad took up blacksmithing last year. Here's his forge.

Handmade hardware for the oxen yoke.

The oxen yoke Brad made. It started out as a square timber and he turned it into a yoke - hardware and all!

Brad's post leg vise that he often uses for holding metal still while he works on it - bending it and such.

Our anvil with hammer - for shaping the hot metal on.

Ethan cranking the blower on the forge.

Ethan squinting into the sunlight as he cranks the blower.

Elizabeth

I've had a hard time keeping up with my blog as of late. I have a new baby on my arm most of the time, so typing can be a bit challenging. That's right! For those of you who didn't know, I finally had my baby girl on July 15th. I started having contractions on the 14th around 4:30 PM. I wasn't sure it was truly labor until around 9 PM when the bloody show finally came. I had been losing mucus plug for about a month already, so it was really exciting to finally get the bloody show and know I would be holding my baby soon. My mom arrived first, then my sister (Mariah), my midwife (Sheehan), and the midwife's apprentice (Gina). The whole birthing crew was here by midnight. My contractions were inconsistent (not uncommon for me) coming anywhere between 3-6 minutes apart, but they were getting stronger by the hour.

We all sat around the table for awhile before Mariah decided to go to bed since she knew Ethan, Madeleine, and Robbie would be waking her up early the next morning. Not long after she went to bed the rest of us decided to move to the living room. The baby was a little posterior, so I needed to get on all fours to encourage the baby to turn a little - the living room rug seemed like the best place to try that since Brad and Robbie were sleeping in my room. Once I was in the living room and things were partly set up I decided I didn't want to leave, so the midwife brought all the birthing supplies from my master bathroom (where I birthed Robbie) into the living room. Sheehan checked for dilation and found out I was about 5 1/2 centimeters dilated. With how far apart the contractions were Sheehan figured it might be awhile before I was to the pushing point, so everyone laid down. Sheehan laid down on the love seat, Gina on the couch, and my mom and me on the sheet that was laid out on the floor. After a few contractions I decided to start getting on all fours for them, because laying on my side started feeling too painful. I think it was on the second or third contraction on all fours when my water broke. I was a little surprised by that since with both of my boys my water broke right before the pushing point and with Madeleine the doctor caused the water to break so that my labor would progress (it wouldn't on its own). I knew, though, that the water breaking meant I would be going through transition, which would mean throwing up. I don't know why I have to do that every time, but I do! Yuck. And I did. Twice. After the first time I tried to get over to the piano and stand for awhile thinking that may help the baby to come down faster, but after getting over there I started feeling really light headed and nearly passed out (my ears were buzzing, everyone started sounding far off in the distance to me, and things were getting dark). I was quickly made to go back to the rug. Shortly after the second time I threw up came the pushing point. My mom got Mariah and Brad up to see the birth of the baby. Amazingly enough Ethan, Madeleine, and Robbie slept through the whole thing. I was more quiet than with any of my other births, so that probably helped.

I've had all of my children in different positions. With Ethan I was sort of on a birthing stool, with Madeleine I was in the crouched down position holding onto some metal bars they had especially for that position, with Robbie I was standing, and with Elizabeth I was on all fours. Strangely enough the contractions were still spaced apart a bit (not a ton, mind you, but more than usual for that point of the birthing process). She still came out in about 3-4 contractions, but I had to work on breathing her out in between the contractions since the midwife was telling me to push when I just couldn't seem to (there wasn't a contraction helping me out a good portion of the time!) Elizabeth arrived at about 2:45 AM (no one actually looked at the clock for a few minutes, but we figure it was between 2:43 and 2:45 AM). Sheehan happily told me it was my smoothest labor yet. They handed Elizabeth to me right after clearing out her nose a bit. She quickly learned how to nurse and nursed for about the first hour after being born! It took the placenta awhile to come out, but when it did it arrived with a big surprise. The cord wasn't attached to the placenta the way it normally is. The name of what it was is: Velamentous Cord Insertion (click there to read all about it). It's probably why I had an amniotic leak for so many months! The cord was attached to such a thin place in the membranes... my little Elizabeth is a little miracle baby! The cord could have come detached in my womb or even during birthing and caused serious problems... even death. I'm so very, very thankful she is alive and well. I had a feeling something wasn't quite right and cried a couple of days before she was born as I prayed that she would live. I had never done that with my other babies, but with Elizabeth I kept having this feeling that she was in danger. I'm so thankful everything turned out so well! Not only did she get all of her nutrients just fine in spite of the bad connection, but she ate really well! Sheehan weighed her as I was getting showered off and she weighed 9 pounds, 10 ounces! Wow. That's about 1 1/2 pounds heavier than Madeleine was and over 2 pounds heavier than Robbie! She didn't feel any bigger than my other babies coming out, although two days later I felt really bruised in my lower back and hips due to Elizabeth's size.

Things are going really well. Elizabeth started sleeping through the night after just a few nights. My contractions went away after just two nights, which I'm incredibly thankful for (normally I have them for 4-7 days/nights after birthing a baby)! Those can feel a bit torturous at times! My belly is shrinking back and I'm happy to be fitting into my normal clothing again.

Here are some recent pictures:

A week before I birthed Elizabeth.

Elizabeth the day she was born with Ethan.

One day old.

4 days old.

Brad and the boys. It was so cute when I looked out and saw Brad, Robbie, and Ethan all hanging out with our ox, Little Bill. I just had to have a picture!

Elizabeth at 6 days old during her second outing.

5 days old.

8 days old.

Ethan giving one of our little roosters a ride.

Elizabeth (8 days old) almost smiling as her brothers give her some attention. Robbie was giving her a kiss.

12 days old.

Birthdays and Ella

My baby girl, Madeleine just turned 4-years-old at the end of May and I wanted to post a couple of pictures of her while I have a chance!

She is so beautiful and growing up so quickly!

For her birthday she requested blueberry cake and since I'm on bed rest a friend of mine who was over helping me made Madeleine a blueberry cake with cream cheese frosting! That was so sweet of her! Thanks, Bettina!

Here Madeleine is playing outside on her birthday with Robbie.

The other new thing around here is our new Jersey heifer, Ella! She's 15 months old and weighs about 650 pounds. She'll be our milk cow next year - assuming she gets pregnant soon. Here are a couple of pictures of her:

We bought Ella from some folks who had her as basically a pet. She's very friendly and loves following Brad around. She even comes when he calls her name! She is also gentle enough Ethan and I can lead her around if needed.

Here are a few random pictures from this month:

Robbie just had his second birthday, but his birthday pictures didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. He had food on his face in most of them! :o) In the picture above he is petting a new lamb Brad brought in the house to show me since I'm unable to go out and see the new ones. That little gal couldn't seem to figure out how to feed off of her mother, so we gave her to some friends to bottle feed. It sounds like she is getting spoiled with all sorts of attention! I sure am glad it worked out for them to take her!

Here's a cute picture of Ethan, Madeleine, and our Scottish Highland calf, Red. I think it's cute how Ethan is standing in this shot - it reminds me of his daddy! And I think it's funny how Madeleine was brushing her hair outside with the new hairbrush she got from her grandma for her birthday!

Amniotic Leak

Sorry for the absence! I may not be writing much for awhile more, though, because I've been off and on bed rest. I've had an off and on amniotic leak and it looks like I may just have to be on bed rest the rest of my pregnancy (due date: July 7th). There isn't really a whole lot to talk about when I can't even go outside at this point! I'm just happy to be able to stay at home instead of in the hospital. For those of you who pray out there I'd appreciate prayers that I get to continue to stay at home, that the baby makes it full term, that baby will continue to stay healthy and strong, that the amniotic leak will seal up, and that no infection occurs! Brad was away for awhile on another business trip, but arrived back at home yesterday, so bed rest should become a bit easier for me now.

Due to all of the concern the amniotic leak has caused I've taken a few trips to the hospital. During one visit I got my second ultrasound (ever) and as it turns out the baby looks very much like a girl! That was a big surprise to me since the first ultrasound looked so much like a boy. At 30+ weeks ultrasounds are more accurate in the area of figuring out the gender, though, so most likely the baby is a girl. I'm happy Madeleine will have a little sister! Not to mention all the fun, girlie, ruffly little clothes I'll get to "play" with again! :) I don't want anyone to think I wouldn't be just as happy with another precious boy, though! I'll be happy either way. :) I just think it would be fun for Madeleine to have a sister.

Baggies

Yesterday, when I was on the phone with my mom I noticed Madeleine pulling all of the sandwich sized baggies out of their box. I quickly interrupted my phone conversation to say, "Madeleine, what are you doing?!"

Looking a bit annoyed, she calmly replied, "I'm looking for a smaller size." I couldn't help but laugh. Apparently she was looking for a snack size baggie and just figured all of the sizes were in one box!

Lambs!

We currently have 15 lambs from this spring! I love watching them climb upon the back of our llama, Oscar when he is laying down for a nap and then jumping off again. Oscar gets a bit annoyed by this game, at times, and will stand up with his ears back making all of the lambs tumble off of him.

We've had two complicated deliveries, which isn't bad for how many ewe's have delivered lambs so far. I noticed the first complication as I was feeding the animals (before Brad returned home). She was in labor and came to the pushing point. I watched her push a few times and realized there was something not quite right. I climbed over into her pen, chased her down (yeah, she was running from me even though she was in labor), dragged her back into the sheep shed and held her with my legs as I checked out the situation more thoroughly. The lamb was coming out with both front hooves and its head at one time (see illustration below)! First I tried pushing the feet back in, but there was no way I would have had enough strength to get the legs in the right position when her body was fighting me with contractions. So, I started pulling. I didn't have enough hands to do it alone, so I had Ethan pull on the legs a bit as I eased the head out. The hardest part was getting the shoulders out. That poor ewe let out a loud, "Baaahhh!" when the shoulders pulled through. The lamb was a big one for having a Shetland mother and Black Welsh/Jacob father! I'm guessing he was overdue, which happens a lot when the lamb/kid/baby is in the wrong position. Here's an illustration of how he came out:

The lamb was having a difficult time breathing, so I rubbed its back down to help gets things circulating well and cleared out its mouth and nose. It was fighting hard for life, so with a little help from me he began to breathe better and let out his first little, "Bah". I left him then with his mother. The ewe healed quickly and the lamb is doing great. There is a picture of him below. His interesting coloring is due to his father being part Jacob.


The second complication came after Brad was home. He was out watering the animals and noticed a Shetland ewe was in labor. He had me come out to inspect her. Sure enough, shortly after I got out there she began pushing. After watching a short time I could tell something was wrong. I climbed in and took a look at it. This time the lamb was coming out backwards (breech) - rear first! So, I had Brad help me. It took a lot of pulling. Not only was it coming out backwards, but he was a big lamb, so it took a lot of muscle to pull him out. Here's an illustration of the birth position:

I had to work with the lamb for quite awhile to get him breathing right. He took in more liquid in his lungs than the one I mentioned above since he came out backwards. I had to pull stuff out of his mouth and nose, and then do a lot of rubbing him down. Here are a couple of pictures of the little guy with Ethan:

Ethan and the little ram lamb.

Madeleine probably was saying something about the lamb's tail here.

Ethan and Madeleine climbing over a fence.

Another new lamb with its mother.

The big, brown ewes are Rambouillets and most of those black lambs are Rambouillet/Black Welsh mixes from this spring. Oscar the llama is there in the background. The extra wooly looking small ewes are Shetlands.

The Jacob ewe in the background is the mother of these little twin lambs - they're 2-3 weeks old now.