03/07/2025
This is the story of Hope🩷
I got home from work and Tenley was running up from the barn crying, she told me that a lamb was dead, stuck and hanging from a mom. I told her to grab me gloves and meet me at the barn. I found the mom struggling and scared, running around. I noticed the lambs head hanging from behind her. I got her pinned into a corner and looked only to see the lambs head was about triple the normal size. The momma must have been pushing a while and couldn’t get the baby out. The baby came out head first instead of hooves and was stuck. I put my finger inside its mouth which was still warm and felt its tongue move. It was still alive! I told Tenley we needed to get the baby out fast or it wouldn’t live and the mom was in danger. I tried pulling gently in the lambs head but it didn’t budge and there was no room to grab ahold of anywhere on the lamb to pull. I had to try to reach in and find a leg. My hand was too big and every second counted at that point. Tenley said “ mom want me to try ?” I said “ yep, we gotta hurry ! You have to reach in and find a leg” she had gloves on and couldn’t feel what she needed to and told me she had to take them off and try again. She tried again and found a hoof, she said “ mom I got it! “ I told her she needed to pull as hard as she could and pull towards the ground. She did and after a few seconds the baby plopped to the ground. She yelled “ I did it!!! “ The large baby lay motionless, with no apparent signs of life. I rubbed the baby and patted its lungs and whipped the afterbirth from its face. I stuck my finger inside its mouth and it began to suck! I said “ Oh my god Tenley you did it, it’s alive!” We heard it breathe and it sounded full of fluid. The eyes were so swollen they were stuck shut, its head was huge, and fluid had gathered under its chin. Tenley told me to swing the baby upside down to get the fluids out which I did. Tenley reminded me we needed to get heat on it right away. I was assisting the ewe who was extremely exhausted and laying down while all on her own Ten found a heat lamp, light bulb, plugged it in, attached it to a rope and hung it from the ceiling. We got it under the heat and the baby began to come around. We heard the faintest cry! Tenley and I fist bumped and she said “ I knew I could do it, I saved that baby!” She truly did! Within 15 minutes it was nursing, within a few hours its head started to look better and it was happy with its momma. This afternoon she is perfectly healthy and doing amazing! I am so proud of Tenley for being brave and assisting in a very scary birth. This is one, I will never forget. Tenley has decided to name her little miracle lamb, Hope🩷
