Capra Lane Farm: The best laid plans

"All human plans [are] subject to ruthless revision by Nature, or Fate, or whatever one preferred to call the powers behind the Universe.”

― Arthur C. Clarke, 2010: Odyssey Two

Plan: Charlotte and Emilene are induced to kid on Sunday. Mona Lisa, May and Macy are induced to kid on Monday morning-afternoon. That gives me Monday afternoon to get organized and I had the foresight to take Tuesday off to recover from a busy couple of days.

Reality: Taking Tuesday off was the smartest part of the plan.

Sleepy..........

Sunday morning, Charlotte popped right on schedule with good sized twin doelings, one sundgau, one cou blanc.

Sunday night, nothing. Emilene was still as big as ever, lounging, eating, lounging, eating. Zero distress, zero signs of impending labor. I had induced her on Friday at midnight so *theoretically* she should have given birth near noon on Sunday. I begin second guessing myself...did I miss with the shot? Considering I give a lot of shots on a daily basis, not likely. Was it a bad batch? No.....Charlotte gave birth right on schedule. I concluded that somehow I missed, pushed too fast, pushed meds subQ instead of IM, something...so I gave her another dose. I still checked her hourly and gave up a perfectly good night of sleep for nothing.

Mona Lisa gave us an early start, quickly delivering twin bucklings at about 6:30am on Monday. Then it was a game of hurry up and wait until late evening when May delivered a single doeling. Of note, I was called in to work and the midwifery support staff did an excellent job and I arrived home to a fluffy, dry and well fed kid and May had given almost a half gallon of colostrum.

Remember Emilene the tank? Still nothing. Macy? Nothing. They were both as big as a house but had more interest in eating than delivering kids. By late, late evening, they just barely started to show some belly drop and their tails began to look 'unhinged'. Another night. Another night of hourly checks. This night I didn't even attempt the bed, just hunkered down on the couch with Tinder and Luna ~~snoring~~ helping me keep watch.

Finally, at about 7:00 this morning, they panted, laid down and got to business - simultaneously! Emilene was now 48 hours *late* and Macy was 24 hours *late*. After fairly uneventful labors Emilene did not, infact, give birth to a hippopotamus but had triplets, 2 doelings and 1 buckling. Macy didn't want to be outshined, so she had triplets as well, 1 doeling and 2 bucklings.

Everyone is warm, fed, dry and cozy. Including me. Just in time for another week of miserable weather. These little guys should be grateful to be in the basement!

Claire's babies from last week. Little Nugget still isn't strong on is feet so he is granted some additional cuddle time in the house. His sister, Calliope, watches over him and lets him sleep on her back. He is feisty, and despite his crooked little legs, he has a one track mind - food. He is so much smaller than the others he tries to poke around under the other kids bellies trying to nurse.