Gloria, Goodness and Mercy

Okay, my camera battery charger is lost in this chaos of a life I live...but I have to tell you a happy story. There are so many unhappy stories in raising critters, that will just rip your guts out, and I resolved not to tell them on my blog, and to focus on the happy endings, or beginnings, in this case.

Gloria went down about three weeks ago. A down sheep is too often a dead sheep. Dr. Rachel, my vet, couldn't figure out why she wouldn't get up, or eat. We treated her for milk fever, and ketosis, the usual suspects for late term gestation, but no improvement. Matt and I would try to lift her up - not easy for a big sheep - thinking she would just feel better if those legs were not folded under her on the cold floor. I would pull them out and massage the joints. I made a pot of oatmeal with molasses every night, and stood over her, lifted her head up and poured it into her mouth...trying to keep her nourished and prevent her lambs from dying inside her. One day we found Gloria standing up but she crashed to the ground. Another day, she was up again and managed a shaky few steps before falling down. Then we would find her in different places in the barn and we knew she was getting herself around. She began eating hay, and low and behold, she was up moving with the flock. Fast forward two weeks and I am in the barn in the wee hours, following the newborn sounds to the far end of the barn. And there is Gloria, is all her glory, a sea of black fleece, washing off two little white ewe lambs, steam rising as they lay in a pool of birth fluids. Gloria making those chortling, rumbling noises to her babies. I ran for my kit and towels and got them all situated in their own room in the maternity ward. Glory is the perfect mother and seems fit and happy. I named the little ones "Goodness and Mercy" which seems fitting after her ordeal. I love happy endings, and new beginnings.