Mama’s Quadruplets

Quads! Can you believe it!

Yes, last Thursday night (3/22), Mama Mello gave us quadruplets!

The delivery was quite rough with them all twisted and tangled up in there, but everyone survived and is thriving!

As I thought it might, it all started on Thursday afternoon when I realized Mama’s pen tendons were gone. Ember helped me gather the Goat Box (our emergency kit filled with gloves and towels and supplemental colostrum, etc), we ate some dinner, and kept our ears glued to the baby monitor.

When we heard “the call” (Mama’s bleating tone changed just a bit), we headed down to the barn and held vigil. Ember patiently waited and helped us hold space for Mama and made it all the way through the first birth, helping wipe off Number One and giving her some sweet loving.

Then, once we realized Number Two wouldn’t be coming out as easily as Number One, I pulled Ember out of the kidding stall and she sat on my lap while Kim helped Mama. Miraculously, despite Mama’s yells and the intensity of Number Two coming out butt first, Ember fell asleep in my arms. I made her a bed in the straw of the barn using a clean towel and her jacket and she slept through the next two hours of birthing.

Crazy.

I have to be honest, I worried we’d have at least one Bottle Baby, but Mama is such a good mama! She wakes up two at a time to clean and nurse them, let’s them run about a bit, then wakes up the other two while the first two go take a nap. It’s really quite wonderful to watch.

Stats:

1. Doe – Blue eyes, brown with moonspots  and a dark stripe down her back – Breach, had to be pulled
2. Doe – Blue eyes, brown with moonspots, a dark stripe down her back, and a little white patch on her head – Butt first, had to be pulled
3. Buck – Brown eyes, brown with moonspots, a dark stripe down his back, a little white patch on his head, and a white ring around his torso – delivered normally immediately after Number Two was pulled
4. Doe – Blue eyes, brown with a dark stripe down her back, a little patch of white on her head, and black boots – This poor girl was completely twisted inside her mama (head to the side, legs bent up under her), had to be pulled and it was all quite traumatic

Gratefully, my wife is an amazing birth Doula and all four are doing wonderfully despite their rough entry into the world!

Gorgeous, sweet babies who are thriving and filling our days with love and laughter!

Ember is obviously smitten and we’ve been spending a lot of time in the barn just sitting and observing and getting to know our the newest EGF members. There’s not much better than baby goat snuggles, bounces, and little squeaks!

And so with that, I’ll leave you with just a bit of Kid Love:

If that’s simply not enough fluff for you, there’s plenty more on Instagram in my feed (online and via the app) and the whole birth story is saved in my highlighted stories (if you use the app) 🙂

Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

xoxo,
M