Doe due in 4 days...Nervous!

doulanobles · #1 04/25/08, 11:35 AM

My first goats are due soon. One on the 29th and one on May 8th. Now, I'm nervous! I'm a doula so I've seen close to 50 human births but never assisted with a goat birth. I've poured over the fias Co. Farm website, I have a mentor willing to come out and help me when the time comes and I think I have all my stuff ready(towels, Bo-Se, iodine, etc.). But, what if she shows no signs at the end of the day, then has them in the middles of the night and I miss it? The 2 goats are kept together...will the other try to 'steal' the babies? I think it would freak them both out if I separated them...they've never been apart. They are 6 and 7 and kidded several times before, twins and triplets. I plan on milking her(the one due first) once a day.

Can I do anything else to feel ready? Should i be geting up at night to check on them? the one due on the 29th, my apline cross, is really bagged up but I don't think her ligaments are gone. She had been waggiong her tail a lot today.

Help reassure me, oh wise ones!

the mama · #2 04/25/08, 02:25 PM

I am not a wise one....but here goes. If they have kidded several times before, then they are the wise ones. Leave them together and check on them frequently. Make sure there is fresh water that is kid safe (I lost a piglet in the water trough at 1 day old). One day you will go out and find babies and mom with no human help needed.

Minelson · #3 04/25/08, 05:05 PM

I went out in below zero weather and checked every 2 hours at night for 4 weeks! I didn't have a due date. I didn't want to miss a thing and I'm a control freak so I felt I needed to be there in case anything went wrong. I would check before bed at 10 and set my alarm for 12,2,4, and get up at 6 and go check. During the day I'm home and I would check at least every hour. Good luck!

neehifarm · #4 04/25/08, 08:34 PM

Oh lord...I can understand your nervousness. Just got through my 8th year of deliveries, and I'm still coming off the 'nervous high'!!
One little thing that I had to learn on my own is that if you 'do' catch the delivery........Your doe will have a bout of 'practice pushes', where you think it's time. DO NOT COUNT these practice pushes as a starting point to true LABOR. (30-45 minutes of TRUE labor before you get nervous).
I accidently calculated these practice pushes many times....and was in 'full blown panic mode' when they finally did start the REAL push an hour later!!.
During almost all of my goats real pushes, she did a lot of softly calling out to her kids that were soon to be born. They do this WHILE they are truly pushing.
Good luck!

tmfinley · #5 04/25/08, 10:29 PM

I have a baby monitor in the kidding pen I turn on at night. I was told I would hear the doe make baby-having sounds when the time was close. My FF I don't have a date on has been in and out of the kidding pen several times in the last 4 weeks. I got up to check on her the first week, now it is up to her to let me know.

cjb · #6 04/25/08, 10:47 PM

Lol - i remember this so well with the first. Ok, and second.. I even slept in the barn IN the stall with the dang doe so as not to miss it. Of course, never happened when I slept there.

If you have a baby monitor - you're unlikely to miss it as they holler something awful. However, sometimes by the time they are that loud, they are pushing babies out.

I bet that they will be absolutely fine. You have some great fun ahead of you!

doulanobles · #7 04/28/08, 06:07 PM

Ok, so today I checked her ligaments and I can almost touch my thumb and forefinger around them. That means anytime, right??? Her bag is huge and she is not moving around much. She perked up when she met our new puppy but seems content today to lay next to the fence and chew her cud. It looks so difficult for her to get down, it's probably too much effort to get back up

I remember that feeling when I was preggo!

I've been checking on her all day and I'll keep it up. Hope it's soon!

Backfourty,MI. · #8 04/29/08, 12:18 PM

They are all different but some other signs are they might not want to eat(others will eat like a pig), be very restless, noisy, goo dripping from behind, very lovey. It does sound like she'll go soon though, You'll know, you just do.
I have 2 doe's I bought together & when they kid I put a fence between them just a few days cause out of each others sight they freak out but they don't want each other messing with their babies at first either.
Everything will be OK! Don't forget pictures when the babies are born.

Minelson · #9 04/29/08, 12:38 PM

Mine started digging and getting up and down a lot the day of the delivery. They are all different though...just keep on checking as often as you can!

doulanobles · #10 04/29/08, 02:16 PM

Well, there's some mucuos hanging out the back and her bag is so big her teats are sticking out ot the side. No sign of nesting yet and wouldn't you know it, my kids have a dentisit appt! My neighbor is going to come check on her while I'm gone.

I'll keep you posted!

Sweet Goats · #11 04/29/08, 02:23 PM

You will be FINE. We all either have gone through what you are or some of us still do after 8 years. The day I am not nervous, that is when I am getting out. You never know. I would rather be ready, then unprepared.
If you have done the human births you will be fine.
I have the baby monitor in the barn also, but I have never heard anything over night. I try to listen for the digging and noise, but either I miss it or they do not do it. Also it seems like they decide to deliver while I am at work.

Good Luck and let us know when the event happens.

doulanobles · #12 04/29/08, 11:41 PM

She keeps hunching her back, lots of mucuos and she's getting up and down a lot. I'm headed back to the barn in a minute. She sure looks like she's contracting. She's also really head butting the other goat so i moved her out. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Minelson · #13 04/30/08, 07:42 AM

Any babies this morning!!????

doulanobles · #14 04/30/08, 08:23 AM

Yay!!! WE have a beautiful doeling! Just a single, though but she's big. I went out with my camera but the batteries are dead! I take a pic this afternoon.

I missed the birth. She was dry and nursing when i came down at 5am. Mom is an alpine m,ix bred to a boer and she looks all boer. Pretty cute, really. She weighs between 10 and 11 pounds...is that big?

Thanks!

chris30523 · #15 04/30/08, 08:37 AM

most of my boer kids weigh from10-12 lbs depending on if they are singles or twins.

Sweet Goats · #16 04/30/08, 09:34 AM

Congratulations. Now wasn't that easy?

Missbeckysgoats · #17 04/30/08, 10:14 AM

Congratulations on the new baby!!

Minelson · #18 04/30/08, 10:37 AM

Yeah!!! Congratulations! Can't wait for the pics!!!

Backfourty,MI. · #19 04/30/08, 12:23 PM

I figured it'd be soon, Can't wait to see the picture! So glad all went well.