the power of life

Yesterday was a very special day, full of emotions: a little lamb (a big girl to be more specific) was born sometime during the night, one of the coldest nights since we’ve been here (it got down to below 0 degree when she was born)…. Here’s the story.

During the morning chores, I was refilling the water for the lamas and the sheep when I noticed a lonely sheep standing by a tree, about 40 feet from me. I could not see very well what was happening (I guess I need to have my vision checked!) but I thought I saw something lying on the ground. I watched the sheep for a couple minutes until I saw a movement coming from something on the ground and that’s when I knew it was a new born. I rushed back to the house to let Ed know and grabbed a towel to wrap the lamb in. Derek jumped over the fence and went to fetch the one that was still alive-the other one froze to death. I carried her down to the house, wrapped in the towel while trying to warm her up, which was not easy as I was cold myself. In the house, we started a fire, put her by the fireplace and started massaging her vigorously to try to warm her up. She did not look too good: the end of her tail was frozen and her legs were so cold. She was very weak and could not even hold her head. We gave her an energy boost. She stayed in the house for a couple hours, in hope that she would get better. During that time we went to catch the mama and isolated her in a pen; she was not happy that we took her baby away. Inside the house, the little gal was warming up and we gave her some colostrums milk, which is fatty milk that the mom produces the first week or so after giving birth and baby needs it to get strong. It does not taste good (Derek tried it!) so you don’t want to use it to make cheese. Then we took her down to see her mama and it was very touching to see them reuniting and talking to each other. The little one was still very weak and at this point she would not stand on her legs so we put her under a heat lamp. After few minutes, she stood up and went to lie down in a corner. We put her back under the heat lamp because it was cold and she was still shivering. You don’t want to separate the baby and the mom for too long otherwise the mom might not recognize the baby and refuse to feed her. We checked on her every hour or so and she seemed to be doing better every time but she still wouldn’t drink the milk out of her mom’s teats so we fed her milk (that we took from the mom) with a syringe the whole day yesterday and tried the baby bottle today. We did the feeding at 8pm last night, Ed did the midnight one and Derek and I are did the 4am one. It was hard to get out of bed into the cold, dark and snowy morning and it takes practice to find your way with a headlamp! But it was worth it to see this little gal drink her milk. We caught the mom against the wall and Derek forced the baby to drink out of the teat. It was a miracle when she started sucking on it; such a little/simple thing that made me feel so happy. It is good for the baby and for us so we don’t have to feed her every 4 hours in the middle of the night.

Anyway, it was a very special experience because I got to feed her while she was on my lap.  She is getting stronger every time I see her. I did not even mind that she pooped all over my pants or that I had colostrums milk running down my sleeves or that my fingers were numb from the cold: this moment will be with me for the rest of my life. Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do and not even think about it twice. I am not sure when this little gal was born but she is a lucky one, a real survivor. She is a tough little one and she made it through 2 nights and a full day. The power of life is just amazing and she taught us a good lesson about life. I keep praying that she is going to survive and be a healthy lamb. And no, I don’t think about a rack of lamb or lamb chops when I see her; she is too precious for that and she fought so hard to stay alive that she deserves to live. Hopefully, the owner will keep her : )

Hier etait un jour tres special pour moi: la naissance d’un agneau (une fille) pendant la nuit, la nuit la plus froide depuis que nous sommes ici (a peu pres moins 20 degres). Le recit suit.

Pendant que je remplissais la bassine d’eau pour les lamas et les moutons/brebis, je me suis appercus d’une brebis qui etait toute seul, eloignee des autres. Je ne pouvais pas tres bien voir mais j’avais l’impression qu’il y avait quelques choses par terre, a ces cotes. Et puis j’ai vu quelques choses bouger et je savais a ce moment qu’il y avait un agneau par terre. J’ai couru vers la maison pour aller chercher Ed et une serviette pour enrouler le petit agneau dedans. On a ramener l’agneau a la maison et on a allume un feu pour essayer de la rechauffer. On lui a donne le lait de sa mere mais elle n’a pas beaucoup bu. Elle etait tres faible, sa queue etait congelee et ses pattes tres froides. Elle etait tres faible et ne pouvait meme pas lever la tete. On l’a laisse pres du feu et on est alle chercher la mere pour la mettre a l’ecart ; elle n’etait pas tres contente qu’on lui est prise son bebe. Quand on est revenu, la petite etait un peu plus chaude alors on a decide qu’il etait temps de la mettre avec sa mere.  On ne veut pas separer la mere et l’enfant trop lentent car il est possible que la mere ne le reconnaisse pas et ne veule pas le nourrir. La reunion entre les 2 etait tres touchante mais la petite etait toujours faible et ne tenait pas sur ses pattes. On  l’a donc mise sous le lampe chauffante. Apres quelques minutes elle s’est tenue sur ses pattes et elle etait trop mignonne. On allait la voir toutes les heures et elle allait un peu mieux a chaque fois. On lui donnait a boire le lait de la mere a l’aide d’une seringue hier et aujourd’hui on a essaye de lui donner le biberon. On s’est leve a 4 heure ce matin pour la faire manger et heureusement elle a tete sa mere. C’etait pas facile de sortir du lit a 4 heures du mat surtout quand tu sais qu’il fait froid, qu’il fait nuit noire et qu’il neige. Mais bon ca vallait le coup. Quandon est retourne a 12h aujourd’hui, elle ne voulait pas teter alors on lui a donne le biberon avec le lait de sa mere. Trop mignon.  Si seuleument elle tetait toute seule, on auraitt pas a se lever en pleine nuit.

C’etait vraiment une experience tres speciale que je n’oublierais jamais, specialement quand je lui ai donne le biberon. Je me moque d’avoir de la merde partout sur mon pantalon, ou que mes doigts soient geles ou meme que je doive me lever a 4 heures. C’est juste un moment inoubliable. En tout cas, elle est bien chanceuse d’etre toujours en vie. Je prie pour qu’elle devienne forte et soit en bonne sante. Et non, je ne pense pas a elle en terme de cotelettes d’agneau : elle est trop mignonne et speciale pour cela : )