A watched sheep never "lambs".....

April is SO ready to have that lamb.  I'm SOOOO ready for her to have that lamb.  

I've been watching her closely since a week ago.  She started showing signs, acting bewildered, kicking at her stomach, breathing heavily, pawing the ground, going into a kind of trance, seeming to have contractions.....

I put her in the little delivery pen (called a "lambing jug", for whatever reason), and all symptoms of impending birth disappeared as she forlornly called to Iris and Brock who were grazing without her.

She seemed to be having contractions while Iris gave birth.  Do sheep have sympathy labor?!!!  Iris had what seemed (to me) to be a miserable time giving birth.  It was painful for me to watch our little ewe Iris in such pain.....  But it was over and done with and a little lamb was born fairly quickly.   For first-time farmers who have to observe a birth, it wasn't complicated or frustrating, just.....normal (and fascinating!)  That was 2 days ago.  

April gazes curiously at Iris' little guy.  She acts as though she would like to have one of her own.  So what's stopping her?!!!

I have spent hours observing her, checking out the size of her growing udder, watching her sides heave to see if it's contractions, looking at the changes of her back end (yes, I've become a livestock butt-watcher...which you can't avoid if you want to be a good animal caretaker, I've come to realize!)

Last night, I had spent over an hour watching her in the afternoon (uncomfortable, looked like contractions).  Then again after dinner (harder contractions?)  She popped up and munched some alfalfa hay and chewed her cud, all bright-eyed and curious.  I checked her again at 10.  Again at midnight.  Set my alarm for 2 hours later.  

Finally, when her beautiful face peered back at me at 2 in the morning, alert and smiling, I decided to sleep the rest of the night in my own bed, and check on her after a few hours of sleep.

And still.....we're waiting.

April is a yearling, which means she was born just over a year ago and this will be her first lamb.  She has a large frame for a Babydoll sheep, and it wasn't too early to breed her in December/January.  Some breeders would call that irresponsible, but our breeder and the vet both agreed that she was mature enough to carry a baby to term.  We took a chance that our ewes wouldn't get pregnant at all, because the timing was later than typical sheep-breeding-season.  But Jethro came to stay, and it seems that both girls cycled and got pregnant right on schedule, about 17 days later.

It shouldn't be twins, the first time around.  But it might be a really big lamb, given the size of April's sides.  Some of my obsession is unwarranted, except that it's the first time for me as well as April.  But some of it is necessary, in case.....there are lots of worst case scenarios that could happen.  I have to keep reminding myself, though, there is a BEST case scenario that is much more likely to happen.

Like with Bessie when she is due to deliver a calf, this lamb will come when I'm tired of waiting, in a daze from sleep-loss, stumbling through my day and half-heartedly clinging to the knowledge that they can't stay pregnant forever.

A watched yearling sheep never "lambs".....at least not until you scale your expectations back and your obsessions have dulled!

Well, time to check on her again.  Every hour, on the hour today, because of the size of her udder and the changes to that back end....and (like every other day since a week ago) I'm hoping for a lamb by tonight!

 

Laura