Yesterday morning I was awakened abruptly by Mom whispering loudly, "Emily! I think Belle is close!" Now normally it takes a long time for anyone to get me out of bed early in the morning, but not today! Instantly I was wide awake! While I hurried out of bed and put on my boots, Mom told me all the strange things Belle was doing. We hurried out to the barn, me in my jammies still, and watched Belle. Mom was right, she was doing the oddest things! Acting fairly normal, she would just walk around or eat or whatever, but then suddenly, while still standing, her whole body would, rather violently, scrunch up. After watching her do it around 7 times, Mom and I went back up to the house. I got on my outside clothes, got mom's cell phone, and went back out with orders to call when her water broke. When I returned to the barn, labor was progressing rapidly! She was doing the "scrunch up" thing often, and began to paw the ground. Then she would lay down, and grunt, groan, and strain while pushing hard. Then she would get up and 30 seconds later lay down to push some more. On one of the times she was laying down, she began to push REALLY hard. She was "maaing" at the top of her lungs! (It almost hurt my ears!) Then suddenly her water came gushing out! I quickly opened Mom's cell....and it wouldn't work in the barn, so I ran outside and called the house. Dad answered, and I blurted out, "water's broken! you better hurry!" then I rushed back into the barn. Belle was already pushing out the water bag. ...and there was a kid in it. I tried and tried to break the water bag, and I couldn't! I was getting worried, and Belle acting like she was dying and in excruciating pain didn't help much. Then I FINALLY heard the 4-wheeler, and Dad came in. He broke the water bag, and out came a VERY black kid! It was all black except for two white patches on either side of his stomach. SO CUTE! I got his nose dried off, and just as he was completely out, Mom, Ben, and Jonny came running in.....30 seconds too late! :) Surprisingly, Belle did not get up. But just looked at it as if she was wondering where in the world the slimy, wet creature came from. But before we could think, out came another water bag with ANOTHER kid in it! We were REALLY shocked....this was Belle's FIRST time, and normally they only have ONE baby their FIRST time!!!!!!! By this time I had checked the kid already out....it was a boy. :( (Anybody want to rescue a adorable, tame, sweet little goat from------?) Then came the second. It was the absolute spitting image of Belle! It's front half was white and the back half black....with a black stripe running down it's spine. The kid also had all the same white and black markings as Belle! Dad, trying to be funny and not being said: "Now if that one's a boy, everything will be great!" I checked "it" and said triumphantly, "It's a GIRL!" We named them Dandy and Polly. I'm sure Dad must have felt SO honored to have them born on Father's Day! :) They are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute! And, because we are bottling them, they are VERY friendly, and follow us around...ADORABLE!!! And, like I said, if anyone would like to rescue Dandy from ----- and give him a good home, we (especially me) would be VERY thrilled!!!!! (just leave a comment if you're interested or have any questions about him!...thanks!) ...oh, I weighed them, and Dandy is seven pounds, while Polly is eight and a half. :)
