A story of Esther (part 1)

It was the day when it seemed winter was coming back. There was no sun, the sky was heavy and threatening, and the wind gusts made it hard to be outside. But we had to go out anyway to check on our does who all of a sudden decided to go into kidding, three of them at once. All was going well and we were blessed with a few more cute kids.

But then the night was coming upon us and one of our goats seemed to be having a hard time. The weather was not getting any warmer and the temperature was plummeting rapidly. Around midnight Mirek went out to the barn to check up on Charlotte again.

He wasn’t gone for too long. When he came back he had a tiny baby goat hidden inside of his jacket. She was wet, cold and barely breathing. The operation “save this kid” started right away. We still had a wood burning stove going on and the warmth was what that tiny creature mostly needed. I sat with her on my lap, drying her up with a towel and quietly praying for her to grab on to life.

It took her a while and I kept on turning her in all different directions to make sure she gets warm quickly. Mirek went back to the barn and milked her momma to get the colostrum, a goat kid’s lifesaver. And as soon as she was able to keep her head up a bit I stuck a bottle into her tiny mouth. She tried to suck, but was still weak.

Another half an hour passed by and the heat from the stove was slowly wrapping her small body in gentle caress. A second attempt to feed her went a bit better. We needed her to get that colostrum down. Going to sleep was not on the schedule yet. We were once again the new parents.

The house was quiet inside but the wind was howling behind the windows. And sitting with that creature on my lap that night was a humble experience I will never forget. She needed the care to survive. And in this little goat’s rough ordeal I got reminded about the precious gift of life.

“A story of Esther” (part 2)

When our kids woke up in the morning there was a nice surprise waiting for them in the big box by the wood burning stove. A skinny little four-legged creature was sticking out her head and quietly asking for her breakfast.

For the next few days she would be fed on demand from a bottle, little sips here and there to make sure she gets stronger. Everybody was so happy and feeling rejoiced when we told them “The night Esther was born” story.

With all that love and attention surrounding her all day long she was feeling up and getting more and more agile. She would be picked and stroked, talked to and kissed, taken for a walk and fed more milk. Ester is becoming a special pet and we all are having a hard time thinking that she would have to go to the barn pretty soon. Does she really have to?