Twins at Three AM

As he went to bed Matt told me there was a ewe "talking" at the end of the barn and pawing at the ground. That's a sure sign lambs are coming. He did chores for me last night so I could sew on Mia's bridesmaids capes and saw the ewe acting unusual. Since he told me the barn was so warm he was sweating like crazy, I knew I could get some sleep without worrying about lambs freezing. Ewes will "talk" to the lambs as they are being born. I woke up at two and listened to the monitor. Lay there for a while, listened some more. Sure enough I heard a little maaaa, maaaa. Had a hard time talking myself up out of bed. Finally got up and made myself a cup of herb tea to help get me going. There they were - twins dancing around their mom who had given birth right next to Chris. Tiny little things. Got them in a pen okay, put sweaters on the teeny tiny ram and ewe, although it was still nice and warm in the barn. What the heck...Anyway, got the cords cut and navels dipped in iodine, Nutri-Drench swallowed. Mom, unfortunately, is a wild nutcase and went psycho when I tried to nurse her out. I tried my leaning her up against the wall of the jug and using my weight to hold her still, no good. I succeeded in getting 3 cc of colostrum - one swallow for one baby. She busted away from me and stepped flatly on the ewe twin. Enough I said. It will have to wait two hours until Matt gets up. Gave Mom a bucket of hot molasses water to get her milk going, which she drank in one stretch of sucking loudly. Good night - or, Good morning I should say. It's 4 am now and I'm going to try to get an hour of shut eye before work.