Lambs

Yesterday Paul, Steven, and Jenny went to the OSU sheep barn and got four bummer lambs. This is a project Paul has done with the children for years.

Lambs require bottle feeding every few hours and I made it clear when the first lambs appeared ten years ago that I have paid my dues with babies and I am not about to get up at night to feed these lambs. So Paul and the children have always fed them faithfully when they're home, and I feed them when everyone else is at school.

When Paul came to bed after the 3 a.m. feeding he told me that they aren't eating very well yet. This morning before school they went out for another feeding, and then Jenny came running inside in her rubber boots, calling desperately, "Mom! Piggy's not eating!"

Oh dear, it had to be Jenny's lamb that had the hardest time. She gets terribly attached to these babies and if anything goes wrong it breaks her heart.

Well, I have not taught five people babies to nurse for nothing, so out to the shed I went with all my prolactin pumping. I lifted Piggy out of his pen, sat on the floor, cuddled him on my lap, and cooed something like, "Ooooooh come on you leedle shnoonksy poonksy," while rubbing the sides of his jaw and carefully inserting the nipple. Jenny watched breathlessly.

Pretty soon his little tongue was wiggling the right way but he wasn't really sucking. And then after a minute or two he suddenly got it, and he sucked eagerly and swallowed and bubbles went bobbing up the milk. Jenny was ecstatic.

It was a bit off and on for a few minutes but he drank almost all the milk in his bottle. I put him back under the heat lamp and we went inside to get ready for school.

It's so good to know I'm good at something.

Quote of the Day:
"I knew you could do it, Mom!"
--Jenny