Beyla

Beyla's original due date was February 29th. But after a week passed I figured she was not bred on her first mating and somehow the blue crayon didn't mark her (there were a few days when Elwood was sitting in dirt and the crayon became caked with dirt and little stones and wasn't marking.) So I expected her to lamb about 17 days later. On March 9th my husband called me at work and said Beyla was in labor. When I got home she looked fine other than trying to have a small vaginal prolapse with a lot of bearing down. But she was not dilated at all. On the 10th she was stable. On the morning of the 11th my daughter texted me that Beyla was passing a lot of mucus, but otherwise acting fine. At noon she had two bags of fluid hanging out of her vagina and was contracting about every 15 min. When nothing had changed by 2 PM I left work because I was worried that she might have a malpresentation because she had been pretty immobile for the past month or so because of her sore foot. Of course she slid a lamb out while I was walking out of work, but still had the two sacs hanging from her vagina.

Then, for two hours nothing happened. Beyla was very attentive to her little ewe lamb and the lamb was nursing well. A quick exploration found a lamb not far from the birth canal and in the proper position but slightly rotated. He came right out with a little help. While Beyla was cleaning the ram lamb she began pushing again. I was really hoping she was passing her placenta as I didn't think she could handle triplets. But out popped another ewe lamb.

Everyone was up moving around and nursing well. Their little bleats were absolutely adorable. I don't know if Beyla delivered early or late or if I had her due date completely wrong. I only know when she was marked the one and only time.
Just as I was figuring out how to go about supplementing triplet lambs Beyla sat on her third lamb and suffocated her. I had been out in the barn and they were all nursing last night around 7:20. When my daughter went out around 7:40 the lamb was under Beyla and had no heart beat. I think Beyla just sat down on her while the lamb was trying to nurse.  At least now I don't have to worry about Beyla not being able to nurse triplets, but poor little thing.
Next up is Clara. She is due on the 25th of this month.