And there endeth my good start to lambing.
I’m sitting at home, buzzing and deflated, if that’s possible. Had quite a dramatic evening; looked out my window at 9pm and saw 4 legs up in the air. You don’t need to be an expert to know that’s not good. A sheep had rolled into the ditch. Fine, I’ll go get her out.
When I approached, I thought I saw a rabbit run away, turns out it was a lamb! I knew there were two, as she had been scanned for twins. I quickly put the sheep on her feet and waited for the second lamb to come. And carried on waiting….
She hadn’t really made any effort to give birth to the second one, so after about half an hour, I put her in the trailer and took her out to the barn. I checked to see if I could feel anything, and all i could feel was an ear and the top of the head. Not good.
I had a few goes but no joy at all. My neighbour Roddy came around 10.30, and got to work. He’s very experienced and figured out that the lamb’s head had twisted 180 degrees. He worked for about half an hour, before we decided to call the vet. Did that and we carried on. 5 minutes later, the lamb was out, so I cancelled the vet before he’d left his house! Now, you’d think a long, stressful birth would guarantee the lamb was a goner, but no, it was ALIVE! I couldn’t believe it!
Not a happy ending though 😦 it became apparent very quickly that something was wrong. It wasn’t breathing. We tried the usual tricks, I even attempted a kind of kiss of life, but no. It died. Gutted.
I think I’d have rathered it be born dead, instead of putting me on that roller coaster. Was horrible seeing the lamb alive but just not able to breathe. It’s lungs just weren’t up to it.
The other lamb is ok, and I just hope the mother is too. It was quite an ordeal for her. I gave her penicillin, along with some food & water. Hopefully that’ll do the trick.
Sleep now, alarm set for 5.15 
Aw poor thing.