At the 4 a.m. feeding this morning, I was greeted by Benny, maaa-ing loudly for his bottle as soon as he saw me. But Jet stayed curled up in the straw instead of popping up to try for a teat. That surprised me; then Annabelle's actions concerned me. She was talking to him, telling him in an urgent murmur to "Get up and eat," something I hadn't heard her do since the day the lambs were born. Then she walked over and pawed at Jet. He did get up, but just stood there. I thought back to Benny's midnight feeding. I vaguely remembered Jet not nursing and thinking that for once he was full….
What could be wrong? What should I do about it? I called Rick on my cell phone, and he didn't think any immediate action needed to be taken . . . but then again he was groggy from sleep. At least Jet wasn't shivering, and his expression was still bright. I finished feeding Benny and went back to bed, praying earnestly that God would intervene in a little lamb's life once again.
There was no change in Jet at Benny's first daylight feeding. Rick tried to pass a feeding tube on Jet before leaving for his first appointment; that didn't go well. Based on his rattly breathing afterwards I was pretty sure we got some milk replacer in Jet's lungs. I spent some time swinging him vigorously, and then scrounged up some Vetrimycin 200 and gave him a sub-q shot of that. He wouldn't suck on the bottle; he wouldn't swallow any NutriDrench; he showed no interest in approaching Annabelle. There was no change at Benny's next two bottle feedings, except that I got Jet to swallow a tiny bit of NutriDrench at the second one. Swallowing seemed to be uncomfortable; his breathing had cleared up but he was shivering a little. I left him curled up in a sunbeam, thankful for the sun's assistance and praying that it would last awhile.
When we got back from Brian's violin lesson I warmed Benny's bottle and headed down, wondering what I would find.
11 comments:
What trials all of you are having. Hope everyone avoids further resurrections and you have nothing but bouncy babies from this moment on!
They're both adorable. Now you need to make a video of their cute little voices to flesh out of the picture.
Yes, a blessing and a GIFT; thank You, Lord!
Oh good! Man, the emotional roller coaster of owning a farm! Keep well all!
Michelle,
It's like having kids, they keep you stressing.
I'm happy to see the little one is finally up and eating on it's own.
They're beautiful babies. Is the green eye's natural or is that from the camera?
Oh, I'm so glad Jet is hanging in there!! 4 a.m. feeding?!?!?!?!? Girl, you are more dedicated than I would be. I'd be like Rick, sound asleep. They are cute little stinkers, aren't they?
So do I, Theresa; so do I!
Sharon, did you listen to the video on their "birth day" post last Wednesday? Now the only one you'd hear is Benny when I bring his bottles. Jet is not a talker :-)
I am so very thankful, Sandra!
And I have two more ewes to lamb, Maureen! I suppose a "real" farmer wouldn't get so emotionally invested, but I consider myself a steward of the creatures God has entrusted to me, so I must do my very best by them.
Sandy, the weird eye color is just from the camera's flash. Black is so hard to photograph!
I think I'm getting a little old for this, FFG, but I'm nothing if not duty-driven ;-)
What a relief, Michelle! The first few weeks are so important - they sure are adorable. When are the next arrivals due?
Who knows, Susan! Both Sarai and Marta are just starting to bag up; if I were a betting woman, I'd say Sarai will be next within two weeks.
Here's hoping the rest of lambing goes off without a hitch!
How grateful we are for God's loving care! Glad to hear the good news. Those lambs are adorable.
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