Marshall and Marsha!

Last night Mike checked on Molly at around 10:30pm, and she had a bloody show, an obvious sign of impending lambs. Mike and I continued to check on her for the next couple hours, then we got Emily up (knowing she would be the most disappointed of all the children if she missed the birth). Emily and I continued checking on her throughout the night, every hour or so. She worked all night, but no lambs. Little did we know that we were embarking on the longest labor we have had on our farm. Luckily it was at night, and we didn't have an anxious crowd waiting for her to give birth (although we were plenty anxious ourselves). Mike took a turn checking on her at 5:30am (Em and I had been out at 4:30am), and finally she had delivered a little boy. By 6:00am Emily and I were out again (very tired at this point) watching and waiting for another lamb. The lack of sleep had cause a temporary state of goofiness to come over us, and we sat on the hay stack laughing at all the odd names we could come up with for the lambs. At 7:00am Molly delivered another lamb (a girl), but she was stillborn. The lamb looked like it had been dead for a few weeks, maybe a month....hard to say. Molly continued to push. We could see another water bag, but weren't sure what to expect. At this point the boys were out doing chores. We continued to wait, and wait, and wait! At about 9:15am she delivered another lamb- a girl. Within minutes another large boy was born, but he was not breathing. He was the first potentially viable lamb that we have lost in our 5 years of lambing. We believe he died during her long labor-maybe a pinched umbilical cord. It was a somewhat disappointing morning, yet we are grateful to God for the two healthy lambs.

Molly is the first lamb on our farm to deliver four babies. We weighed all the lambs, and discovered that she was carrying over thirty-three pounds of babies around! Quite amazing for an animal that only weighs about hundred and fifty pounds herself! Just glad it wasn't me! :)

The two lambs that survived were named Marshall and Marsha. They are both doing well. We will keep you posted on the rest of the moms, and add some pictures soon.