I dragged Sammy's kennel to the door and outside with him still inside cuz I didn't want the mess inside tracked all over the house. I let him out. I went back inside to open windows and air the nasty smell OUT of our house.
Next, I grabbed the milk bucket to tend to Chocolate Chaud. She is just freaking out about the changes in her body and is wide eyed with suprise most days while yelling at me about it. She needs a good dose of Judy Blume... Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Seriously. 
When I got to the goat pen, Sonata was hunkered in her quonset hut and a shoelace was hanging. Great. I hurried and milked Chocolate, threw hay to the goats and horses to keep them all happy, fed the babies. Ran inside to pasteurize the milk and let it cool while I went out to tend to Sonata. Thankfully, we had a nice rehearsal with Chocolate's kidding and everything I needed for kidding was handy and fresh in my mind.
By the time Furry Husband got home, all the chores were done, animals fed and all that was left was to clean Sammy's kennel (sorry, honey but you can do THAT chore! ) and wait for Sonata's kids to arrive. I called our wonderful friend Ms. K but she was not at home, much to her dismay the next day when she got my message.
Sonata got down to really pushing at about 5:30. At 6:45 there was still nothing. No sign of anything coming. She didn't seem very distressed but I decided to go in and have a feel to see if there was trouble before things began to turn bad. I don't like going in because any time you do, you are introducing a risk of infection AND it's not like I am some expert at this. I've read every single James Herriot book more than once and I had to go in once for our doe, Spot, a couple years ago. I've talked to vets about going in and asked lots of questions but still - when it's "go time", there is a lot to worry about!
I made Furry Husband scurry inside to get warm water, soap and a clean towel... felt like Scarlett O'Hara with Miss Melanie in labor.
The first kid was butt first and no legs - effectively plugging up the birth canal. I pushed the kid back in, felt for it's legs, manuevered them into position and pulled it out. A nice chamoisee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamoisee doe kid. The next kid was also katty-wampus.... I had to go in again. This one had one leg forward in the birth canal with one leg and the head back. Again, I pushed the kid back into the uterus and arranged it so it could come out. This one was a small black doe kid. I don't remember the third kid's position, all I know is that it also needed assistance and I went in to pull another chamoisee colored buck kid. Shew.
Sonata has always given us triplets. I pulled her out of the quonset hut much to her chagrin and got her up on the milking stanchion for her first milking of colostrum. She ate some grain and I offered her some warm molasses water. When I put her back in the pen, she made a nest and began pushing - there was a fourth kid! The kid's fluid filled sac showed up but no kid was making an appearance. Oh, man! I gotta go in again! This kid was a little black buck. Small and weak but alive.We tended to the kids - weighed them, dipped their navels in iodine and dried them off. The two chamoisee kids were 5lbs and the two black kids were 3lbs. We gave them thier first bottle feeding of colostrum, all of them had a good sucking reflex and drank up! It was about 9pm now so Furry Husband and I went inside to heat up a frozen pizza while there was a break in the action. The adreneline was still pumping - we've never had quadruplets before!
Our friends Glenn and Rexanne called while they were at dinner to play a joke on Furry Husband. The restaurant they were at was out of the wine they wanted to drink and my husband is the wine sales rep for the restaurant. It's hard to "get" my Furry Husband with any joke. He was totally unphased and began talking to them about our new kids.
When they found out we had new kids, they said they'd stop by after dinner for a viewing. It's a good thing they did - both are brainiacs - one is a microbiologist and one is a veterinarian, they are both very involved with animals and are tuned in to their care. They noticed that the small black buck kid seemed a little sluggish. Rex picked him up and brought him inside while we shared a bottle of wine together because he was cold. The storage room we keep them in was 60 degrees and there was plenty of fresh, warm straw but he was struggling to keep his temperature up. She kept the kid in her coat to keep him warm and Glenn came outside with me to give Sonata an injection of penicillin. With me going into her uterus as often as I did, it's a good idea to try and head off any infection and she'll be on penicillin until Tuesday night.
By the time they left, the small, sluggish, cold kid was perky and warm and ready for his next feeding. I'm glad they came - we might have caught the fact he was sluggish at the next feeding before we went to bed, I like to think we would have noticed that, but by then it could have been too late.
We've learned a lot about goats, and it's humbling to be reminded how much we don't know and it is good to have such wonderful, caring friends in our lives! Isn't that something how they called us up out of the blue to play a joke on us - on that night of all nights? I am amazed how things happen in our lives - everything happens for a reason. Two does down, two to go!
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