Socks gave birth to our second lamb this morning. If Susie’s went easily, this one was hard. Socks was struggling to give birth, I saw that the lamb’s legs and head were in the wrong position, both were stuck in the canal, Socks was unable to get them out. I was concerned for her. I sounded the alarm, called four our neighbors and friends Kim and Jack Macmillan and Rod Wilson and Stephanie and got the plastic gloves on. But they couldn’t come instantly.

I got the emergency kit, got the plastic gloves on. I knew it was time to play midwife, I reached into the uterine canal and helped ease the head out a- I did this a number of times as the first Bedlam Farm. Socks seemed to go into shock and pulled the lamb out, he struggled to get up and Socks just passed out. We got the baby out, got her on her feet – she revived in five or ten minutes and began cleaning the amnitotic fluid and afterbirth off of the lamb, also a male. Reinforcements arrived and we got her into a stall where she cleaned up her lamb, who is struggling a bit, I think. We gave him a vitamin booster and supplement, got him to drink some milk, the udders are expressing milk.

Socks is not as vigilant and pro-active a mother as Susie, we put the lamb under her teat several times. He is drinking it but he looks weak and sluggish to me. Liam, born yesterday, is hot stuff. He came out to greet the donkeys and jumped up onto a spare tire. He has a lot of personality.

We got Socks and her lamb into a stall with clean bedding, molasses-laced water and fresh hay, both under a heat lamp. We’ll keep an eye on them. It was a hard birth all around, a real struggle for Socks, for the lamb, for Maria and I, it took about three hours in all. I got the heated tail docker out and docked Liam’s tail, went through a blood vessel and there was a lot of blood. He is okay, I think Maria may pass on that chore.

It was a powerful experience for us, the first time we have lambed together, I think Maria was a bit in shock, we had a good deal of trouble today. This is real life, we both appreciate that. I think the lamb is 50-50 right now, I’ll be pulling for him. When you help bring a baby into the world, you are rooting for it in a particular way.