Sleep deprivation? Yup. And I'm not even talking about our soaps right now. It was our first kidding ever on the farm last weekend and we have a sweet baby boy goat (plus a little exhaustion) to show for it.
I could tell Jade was getting close to kidding but since it was her first birth (and mine) I really wasn't entirely sure exactly when she was going to pop. So given this... challenge... and my determination not to miss a second of the birth, I ended up setting my alarm for every hour for about three nights straight. Hahahahahaha. I'm an idiot. But a caring idiot? Maybe? I think I was honestly more nervous about my goat's birth than I was about having my own two children. Don't read too much into that, lol.
Well, Jade ended up going into labor right when the 3 nights of no more than 1 hour of sleep at a time finally got to me and I was actually napping. Thankfully I had asked my mom to take over goat watch on the camera and she woke me up after about an hour (anyone else enjoying the irony?). We rushed down to the barn and Guthrie was born no more than five minutes later. We did get the full birth on video and I will be sharing that soon if you're into that sort of thing. I found it super fascinating!
I'm so relieved and thrilled that everything went smoothly with my sweet girl and her babe. Actually, a fun fact that I haven't shared on here yet is that Jade is actually the daughter of Clarice, our milking goat. So now we have grandma, mom, and baby! I didn't really plan for that but it's pretty amazing to have the whole family with us.
In about two weeks, we will be starting to milk Jade as well as Clarice so we will get more than double the milk and that means not just more soap but more goat milk to use in recipes! First on my list is homemade mozzarella! Stay tuned!
I would also be absolutely remiss if I didn't thank Kelly from Willow Ridge Farm IMMENSELY for her patience and guidance helping me through my first kidding. We have gotten both of our girls from Willow Ridge Farm and to say we are pleased with them doesn't even start to cover it. I've never met two gentler or kinder goatie girls. Thank you Kelly!