A LONG day means a LONG post

Last night I put Vienna in a lambing jug, as Brian and I both thought we had observed her with her tail elevated more than usual. At last barn check (nothing from Vienna), Brigitte and Bardot were bedded down under the heat lamb, cute as could be.

But I went to bed a bit worried about Brigitte. Even though I had seen her nurse, complete with head-bumping and tail-wagging, she looked gaunt and hunched-up compared to Bardot. At one point I milked out some colostrum from Sarai and gave it to Brigitte with a syringe, just to give her a boost. But was it enough?

This morning I hurried to the barn to check on her – and found her laying flat on her side, very still in the straw. Afraid she was already gone, I rushed in and saw the slightest of movements – and got a weak little bleat. I scooped her up and raced to the house to catch Rick before he left to take Brian to school.

Brigitte was too hypoglycemic to take anything by mouth, so Rick administered 25% dextrose SQ. I set her up in a warming basket and then went down and milked Sarai; Rick stopped back by the house and tubed her for me before leaving me to it for the day.

The dextrose and mother's milk had their effect; when it was time for her next meal, Brigitte had perked up enough that I decided to try a bottle. She was able to suckle; hurray!

Until early afternoon, my day was divided between necessary chores and preparation for our trip, and milking Sarai to feed Little Miss and taking her out on the deck to stretch her long legs.

To infinity – and beyond!

We had a visitor while out on the deck

Around 2:15 Brigitte bleated at me – the first time she had made a peep since her pathetically weak cry early this morning. I was elated, and decided to take her back to her mother and sister – while continuing the milking and bottle-feeding. Bardot got some attention, too:

She's looking great!

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In the meantime, this was happening:

I watched that last scenario happen. It looked scary when she knocked the gate over on herself, but she just kept scratching her back! But she was obviously looking to lamb, so back into the jug she went.

When I went down to feed Brigitte at 9:30, Vienna was cleaning up lamb #1. I gave Brigitte her bottle (milk replacer this time; she wasn't impressed) and watched lamb #2 arrive. Two good-looking brown lambs, a boy and a girl:

Here are Bogie and Bacall, meeting the girls next door:

Off to give Brigitte another bottle at . . .