HOW I AM PREPARING FOR BABY #7 AND A CALF!
Today is my due date!! Phew! I made it to 40 weeks! It's always a huge accomplishment to make it to 40 weeks of hard work growing a baby. I'm going to let you in on a little secret ... .I really do NOT enjoy pregnancy. I know, I know, the next thing in your head is “then why do you have so many children?!?!” Seems totally logical to ask the question but the answer is simple….I LOVE the outcome! There is no amount of hard work that would deter me from bringing another life into this world. The process to get there is hard work, but it is so worth it in my opinion! I will have another human to love, to raise another warrior for God's kingdom, to teach, to guide, to laugh with and to help me continue to grow in wisdom in my mothering. It's a no brainer for me! Pregnancies are also extremely difficult on my body. I wish I was one of those women who could just pop out babies with ease. Little discomfort, little nausea, little changes in my mood swings, the list can go on and on. But I'm not. I really do have to mentally prepare my mind before we get pregnant, knowing that I am about to embark on a hard season, but I always tell myself ... It's only 9 months. I can do anything for 9 months! So as I prepare and wait very impatiently for labor to start and for the baby to finally make his appearance, I thought I would also share what else is going on on the farm.
WHAT'S HAPPENING ON THE FARM
Dolly, our beautiful chocolate Brown Swiss/Jersey girl is also due! Like literally any day now! She is my most difficult one to tell when she is in heat. She gives me literally zero signs. No mucus on her rear, no funny business with me like her trying to mount me, no pacing the fence, no excess mooing…literally nothing! It wasn't until we moved our second cow back home (she was down at a neighbors house spending some time with their bull) that we finally started to see some signs! She let our Daisy mount her and I knew Dolly was in heat!
Our AI guy once told me, “If you want to know when your dairy cow is in heat….get another cow!” It’s that simple! And it's worked like a charm! After we AI’d her, we found out that I was pregnant! I know…perfect timing right?! Well, I actually thought to myself that it actually might turn out to be perfect timing as she got pregnant before I did! Well, 9 months later with both of us due within weeks of each other, I am days away and yet so is she! Now, this is kind of a pickle. I like to be available for my girls when they go into labor in case there are any complications or signs of mastitis or milk fever. Though we haven't had any issues in the past with these 2 cows, our first cow got milk fever every time she calved and it was always a huge emergency! Thankfully both Dolly and Daisy have been very easy to manage postpartum.
HOW AM I PREPARING FOR BOTH BABY AND CALF?
Well, it's really been months of training my kids! They have been full time milking and processing for me as the end of my pregnancy has been exceptionally more uncomfortable than it has been in the past. I have taught them signs of mastitis and certain issues to look out for. We have all the supplies on the ready for any emergency that may arise, and in the small chance that we both go into labor on the same day, we have neighbors on the ready to provide medical attention to both mama and calf.
I am intentionally keeping our schedule light. Knowing that either one of us could go literally at any time, I am trying to keep things simple in the home. We have freezer meals ready for the family and plenty of hay in the barn. I wanted to make sure that we didn't need any last minute feed for the cows so my husband could focus on any unexpected situations. I am also being intentional about the work load in the home. I am doing laundry almost every day, thanks to the sunshine for charging our batteries that allow me to accomplish this. Every day I am out there checking on her rear and getting a good look at her udders. Her bags are starting to fill up which means the calf should be here in a week or so.
I really am praying that everything goes smoothly, that the calf goes before me (or that I have a baby several days before so my husband can be available to help) and that the timing works out perfectly! But as you know, babies come when they come, and the timing will always be perfect to welcome both baby and calf! Who do you think will go first?