Lambs

Today has been another crazy day when it comes to birthing sheep. Greta's last Ewe gave birth to two twin Lamb's this morning. I looked out the window at 5am and I saw the first lamb and thought I could go back to bed for a while and check on her again at 6. I didn't wake up till 6:40 but when I looked out the window there was two lambs. At this point I went outside to check on the Lamb's and make sure they were nursing because I didn't want the same thing to happen to these Lamb's that happened to the lamb a couple weeks ago. Where he didn't get enough colostrum and then ended up getting sick and couldn't fight off the bacteria because he hadn't received the colostrum and he died. These two Lamb's did have trouble nursing, I worked at it it and worked at it and they were willing to suck they just couldn't find the teat.  Once they figured it out the mom kept wanting to lay down, she had another water sack hanging out but she wasn't pushing. She kept laying down every once in awhile but nothing was happening so we tied her up for a little bit for the two lambs to nurse. They didn't quite figure it out (how to nurse on their own) but they kept working at it. I ran to the store to get some extra straw and some colostrum in case she was having a triplet.  After I got home I made sure the two little lambs nursed a good amount and then I untied the Ewe and she laid down after a few minutes and started pushing. I had noticed that she started passing blood and I was worried about her. When she laid down and started passing what looked like blood clots I decided it was time to do something. I tried to feel for feet in the birth canal and did find hooves, but I couldn't feel a head and I couldn't feel any other part of the body. So I had to reach into the uterus and I found the baby's shoulder and I started pulling on the shoulder and pulling on the feet with my other hand. I got really frustrated and didn't think I was going to get the baby out. I started praying out loud and asking for help because I was really worried about this mom and I was really worried about this last baby, he or she was breech. And wasn't breathing. I tried to get some life back into the baby and the mom also tried cleaning it and trying to get it to respond.   I was so frantic for the baby to live that I even tried chest compressions. We are pretty sure the baby died in the uterus and there was nothing we could have done. But that is why she started bleeding. The mom is okay now and the two Lamb's that we got nursing this morning are strong and steady. I was very emotional and concerned that I could have done more but the most important thing was to save the mom and save the twins. It's very hard for an animal to take care of triplets. I hope I never have to do that again.  I am thankful that my prayers were answered and I was able to pull the baby out and save the mom.