Hindel Kidz 32: Million Dollar Babies
Hindel Kidz 32
Million Dollar Babies
On April 4th, Joy joined the club. She had been starting to show signs the afternoon before. Grace really wanted to stay, but she had to prep for a medical scan the next day. Sven told Jack to call the cell phone if Joy had her babies. By the next morning, Jack hadn’t called. It was only after her scan Grace learned the truth. It was after midnight and Joy hadn’t progressed. Jack wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He had to do something. Charlotte told him to call the vet. He called the vet’s cell phone and told him the situation. Dr. Robb said, “I’ll meet you at the clinic in an hour.
Since it was the middle of the night, Jack had to assist with the C-section. He was in charge of monitoring the knock out gas. They found out the baby had been dead for a while and showed signs of early termination. Dr. Robb was going to have Charlotte help with second baby except there was no second baby. Joy had only had a single. Everyone included Dr. Robb was surprised. They swore she was going have twins at least. The only thing they knew was the baby was black. It turned out Joy was hemorrhaging. If they hadn’t taken her to the vet then she would have died for sure. Grace had a special attachment to Joy since she was Grace and Sven’s own goat. Grace had lost her fourth grandchild.
Now they were down to one last goat. Carolyn was their only hope. Grace didn’t know what she was going to do if Carolyn’s babies didn’t survive. It would be the first year without any baby goats.
Ever since Joy, Jack had been wondering whether or not to take Carolyn to the vet and have a scheduled C-section done. When she started to show the first signs of labor, Jack decided to take her in and see if they couldn’t save at least one baby. Carolyn did not like riding in the truck and bellowed the whole time until the vet showed up.
Dr. Robb felt her sides and checked her milk. He asked Jack if a C-section was what he really wanted to do. There was no guarantee the babies would make it. Jack said, “We have nothing else to lose.”
The C-section took around 45 minutes. Jack and Sven were almost positive the babies wouldn’t survive. But Grace tried to hold onto that small glimmer of hope. One of the vet techs came out and got a cardboard box out of the dumpster.
“I wanted Carolyn back,” Jack replied, “but not in a box.” Meaning Carolyn might not have made it through the operation. A few minutes later when Dr. Robb came out with only Carolyn, Grace’s heart sank.
“Oh, no.”
“Well?” Jack asked.
“Triplets,” Dr. Robb replied.
Jack sighed thinking they didn’t make it.
“They were all standing by time I was sewing her up.”
“You mean they’re alive?”
At first Jack and Sven thought Dr. Robb was joking.
“What are they?” asked Grace flabbergasted.
“I think there are two girls and a boy, but I will double check. They will bring the babies out in a minute. We had more than enough help in there.” All the assistants wanted to help with the babies.
The only complication was Carolyn didn’t do too well under anesthesia so Dr. Robb has used the knock out gas and she was just coming around when he was stitching her up. Jack would need to give her penicillin for the next three days. The two girls looked like Carolyn and each had a white spot on the top of their head. One of them looked to be a little bit brown. It makes sense since Pete was a brown goat. The boy was all black expect for his ears and did not have a white spot. That was how Grace could tell them apart.
Dr. Robb also said the reason for the other babies not surviving was due to the placenta and baby detaching from each other. The baby was not getting the blood, oxygen and food supply from the mother anymore. In Carolyn’s case the placenta was just starting too detached and if they had waited then the babies would have died for sure. Jack knew then he had made the right decision.
They brought them home and it took about an hour and a half for Carolyn to come out of the gas and claim them. Charlotte said Carolyn’s tongue would get tired after licking three babies. Grace wasn’t sure what Carolyn would think. She didn’t even know she had Jack and now she had triplets. But she was a good mother and she would be a good mother again. By the time they left, all three of the babies had eaten. Whether it was by nursing or by Jack feeding them. Sven and Grace brought Rhonda up to see them. She even tried to get them to eat. Even Charlotte said they were all a good size.
Jack was talking up a storm. He was on cloud nine. The babies had survived and he now had his girls.
Grace hadn’t even begun to think up names. The first three that popped into her head was Hope, Faith and Pete Junior. She also thought about calling the girls April and Diamond. Diamond was the birthstone for April. Or maybe Windy since it was very windy that day. Sven said to name two of them Rob and Jessica after the vets. It was truly a miracle they survived. Jack said each one would cost him 100 dollars so they were expensive little devils.
By the fifth day, names for the babies were pending. Jack was considering calling the boy Rob since Rob was the one who delivered them and the girls Hope and Faith. Hope was hoping the vet would get the babies out in time and having faith they would all survive. Sven and Grace liked these names very much. Rhonda also thought they were nice. The names couldn’t have been more perfect.
Faith was the feisty one while Hope was more calm and sweet. Rob wasn’t feeling too well since Jack thought Jane had either stepped on him or head butted him since she liked to go in the birthing pen and stand in the back corner. Rhonda said Rob needed a little extra TLC. She also didn’t want to upset Carolyn by holding the babies too long. Sven told her the more used they get to being handled the tamer they would be. Jack took Hope on a joy ride. They went to the gas station, the post office and the municipal building. Some girls there wanted to know how big a baby goat was and what it looked like.
The next time Grace saw them, they all came to her. Faith and Hope were having a hay day chewing on her shoe laces. Rob was also trying to join in the fun, but his sisters wouldn’t let him. So Grace picked up Faith so Rob could have a turn. Jack told her Hope and Faith would also jump on Rob and bite his ears. Poor little guy. He was still the smallest of the three and Jack thought one of the goats might have laid on him. He started feeding Rob with a bottle to try and fatten him up. The next time Rhonda saw him, he had started to gain some weight. She was glad he was feeling better and hopping around.
Hope was becoming a little feistier every day. Clark tried to head butt and she didn’t back down. She even started head butting Grace’s leg in the process. Hope and Faith loved attention. They would both get on their hind legs and put their front feet on Grace. She was holding one while trying to pet the other one. She was in heaven.
Clark started chewing on Grace’s t-shirt and jeans. He wanted some attention, too. He was jealous. Up until now he had been the baby. But for the first few months of his life he was a little leery and stand offish of people other than Jack.
Jack said he wasn’t going to wither Rob. He had been kicking himself for withering Clark last year because Clark had been Ben’s baby and could have bred any of the female goats except Joy. And Jack wasn’t planning to breed Joy again. He was reconsidering breeding any of them because of all the trouble he has had. Grace figured out over the last six years they have had a total of 38 babies and only 16 of them had survived. The odds weren’t looking too good. He said he was going to put Pete up for sale and Rob also when he was old enough. Jack would have a better chance selling them if they were not withered.
Even though Grace loved having baby goats every year, she thought Jack had made the right decision.
