Please help us CURE Cystic Fibrosis!!!

My sister and I grew up with Samantha and Libby .  They are sisters who were born with Cystic Fibrosis, a deadly genetic disease that affects the lungs and digestion of 30,000 children and young adults around the world.  At that time, their life expectancy was their teens.  They take up to 20 pills per day to help digest their food, and spend at least two hours per day doing breathing treatments to help decongest their lungs.  They are still hospitalized intermittently to improve their health when it takes a downward turn.  Their parents had hopes they’d live long enough to get married and even possibly…have children.

Times have changed.  Medication and treatment for CF has improved drastically.  Now, the life expectancy is the mid-30s.

Samantha is 31.

Libby is 28.

And….guess what!!!  Samantha is married to Christian!  Libby is married to Will!!!

And…guess what, AGAIN!!!

Samantha gave birth to healthy twins last June!

And Libby and Will adopted a baby boy 5 weeks ago!!

So far, their dreams and their parents dreams for them have been realized.

Now, there’s only one left.  And it’s a big one.

The Animal Whisperer and I are passionate about helping to make sure Samantha grows old with Christian to raise their twins, Tommy and Luci.  We are passionate about helping to make sure Libby grows old with Will to raise their newborn son, Liam.

But, there is still a chance they won’t.

The final dream has to be realized:  Finding a cure for CF.

The history of progress in working toward a cure for CF is exceptional…but we’re not there yet.  Doctors and scientists have found the gene that causes CF, they’ve developed life extending drug therapies and treatments, but you’ll notice, despite huge advances, there is nothing there that says “CURED.”  We need your donations.

Last year, we could report that a new medication was significantly prolonging the lives of a small percentage of people with a specific kind of CF.  This year, there’s another medication which may drastically change the lives of a much larger percentage of people with CF.  The latest progress in treatment may help Samantha and Libby directly.

Tommy and Luci need their mom at their college graduations, they need her at their weddings.  They need her to advise them when they have their own kids.

And, they shouldn’t have to take care of her until she’s at least 90.  (check out the socks…adorable!!)

Here’s how you can help:

1. Sign up for The Goat Cheese Lady team here.  Start raising money now!  And, meet us at the Great Strides walk at America The Beautiful Park in Colorado Springs on May 18, 2013 !  Registration starts at 8am, the walk starts at 9am.

2.  If you don’t live in or near Colorado Springs, you can click here then click “Make A Donation” and donate to The Goat Cheese Lady team.  Whatever amount you can donate will help us reach the $6,000 goal!!!

Last year, we raised $5,500.

WITH YOUR HELP, THIS YEAR we can reach our goal of $6,000!!!

Liam needs his mommy to hold and cuddle and teach him through all the stages of his life.  He needs her to give him the life experiences that only she will be able to give him.

So, we have to make sure she lives.

Please help Luci, Tommy and Liam have a full life with their beautiful, energetic, full of life and creativity mothers.

Please join our team and walk with us or donate.  Whatever you can do will help find a cure!!!

-  The Goat Cheese Lady and The Team

Little Luci checking out Little Liam.  I just couldn’t resist showing you this picture.

And Two More Makes Five!

We checked on Sally last night around 9 pm when we did chores.  Her udder was full and she’d been by herself a lot of the day, no signs of mucousy discharge.  Birth did not seem imminent.  We watched a YouTube video about how the moon affects planting and went to bed.

This morning, Voila!  Magic!  There were kids!

New kids!

Sally’s new kids!  Two soft and cuddly (and large) bucklings!

But it took a minute for The Animal Whisperer to realize what was going on.

He went out to the barn around 7 am to feed.  When he lets the goats and chickens out of their various stalls, he always checks to make sure everything is as expected.  Every animal accounted for and in good shape.  He scanned the barn, saw all the usual suspects.  All goats and kids and chickens present.

But WAAAAAAIT just a darn MINUTE!  The kids cuddled up on the leaves right over there WERE NOT on the roster last night.

It’s got to be a funny feeling to look in on the animals and see two babies lying there, dry, cuddled up, sleeping, no signs of birth, no mess, no nothing.  Just all the usual goats plus two extra babies.  It’s the kind of feeling that might stop you in your tracks for a second until you do a quick early morning clear the cobwebs out of the brain scan and realize that yes, there is a goat in here whose voice told her quickly and efficiently that it was time to get those babies on the outside of her body, instead of the inside.  And thankfully, she did it without waking us up, producing two healthy little boys.

Sally, you are my new favorite goat.  Plus, you have the longest beard.  There are rare times that a beard looks good on a woman.  This is one of those times.

So, there you have it.  Potentially the end of our kidding season.  Potentially, because we’re not sure if Canela ever really got pregnant, despite being bred and bred and bred and bred and bred, until we finally sold her boyfriend.

If she does have some unexpected babies, it’ll be sometime in the summer and you’ll hear about it.

Now, I’ve got to go back and stir the first batch of feta I’ve made in six months.  Thank goodness the milk is flowing again!!!

-  The Goat Cheese Grandma.  Proud Grandma of this season’s 5 new kids.

Lucy’s Turn!

Three Days Ago:

Goats don’t plan their births for the most convenient times.  OK.  You’re right, they don’t plan them at all.  So, whoever is in charge of the whole “when should I get down to business and get these baby goats on the outside of my body instead of the inside” needs a talking to.

Two in the morning just isn’t acceptable.

I’m sorry, but nature calls me to be asleep at night.  Not to be in the barn.  So, thank goodness for The Animal Whisperer.  Nature doesn’t seem to call him to sleep at all, as much as he would like to, and since he woke up at 1 am and couldn’t fall asleep again, he decided to go check on Lucy to see if she was having any movement toward birthing the babes in her stomach.

And, much different than poor Dottie’s experience, Lucy was done.

Finished.

She had birthed her baby bucklings on her own!

How nature intended.  No human intervention.  Just shear goat guts without an epidural.

When The Animal Whisperer arrived to the barn, the first boy was totally clean (licked off by his mama) and the second must have showed up on the scene a few minutes after the first, still partly covered in birthing fluids.m.

And, because this is a family affair, he came up to the house to wake me at 3.  A.  M.  And, because our children are part of the family, we woke them up too.  The nine-year old threw on his barn clothes and nearly sprinted to the barn, the five-year-old languished in bed whining and complaining that he was too tired and too cold but really wanted to see the babies…could he JUST go in his PAJAMAS???  (hmmm…let me think about that…NO.)

And, so it was that the Aparicio family met Lucy’s new little family.  At 3 in the gosh darn morning.

And, as for Dottie and her doeling, I’m happy to report, they are both doing well.

Dottie will have her last shot of penicillin today, she is healing and Chispita (Little Spark) is hopping and jumping around…splint-free!  Her back legs can now support her in all of her walking, jumping and pirouetting endeavors.

Lucy had a difficult kidding last year…we’re thankful she did it all on her own, successfully, this year.

-  The Goat Cheese Lady

P.S.  Next up is Sally.  Wish her luck.

Who Guessed Dottie???

If you guessed Dottie…YOU WERE RIGHT!!!

Congratulations!  You win an all expense paid trip to the barn tonight to take care of her!  And her baby!

Yes, 4 days of labor is long.  She wasn’t in full-on labor the whole time, but we’d notice a contraction every once in a while.  Last night was when her water broke…that’s when we started seeing a thick mucousy strand hanging out of her.  For our experience here, that usually means things will move pretty quickly.

That was at 8:30 last night.  I went out at 9:45 pm, The Animal Whisperer went out at 11 pm and 3:30 am,  and I went out again at 6 am.

She still had the gooey discharge that had covered the tip of her tail and part of her udder.  Her udder was full (another good sign).  But no babies.

When I say it usually means things will move pretty quickly, I mean we’ll have babies in 2 or 3 hours.  So far, it had been 9.  I cancelled all the work I had planned to do for the morning, invited my mom over for coffee and birthing, and she, The Animal Whisperer and I hurried up… and waited.  The kids begged to stay home, but we sent them to school with the promise we’d get them out when things got more active.

We checked her about every 20 minutes, looked for contractions, saw weak ones every 4 to 10 minutes (too weak and erratic…not a good sign).  She started pawing the ground at some point in the morning…a good sign.

I finally picked the kids up from school at 11:15.  Not because there was rapidly progressing labor, but because I had to go to a meeting and The Animal Whisperer would need help and would not be able to leave to get the kids if the birthing began.

It didn’t.

Worried that she was not progressing, and remembering that Lucy had the same problem last year and birthed a stillborn, at 2 pm, he went in.  To her.  To get them.  After 20 minutes, he pulled out the first one.  A boy.  Stillborn.

I was still out in town, and close to the vet medical supply store.  He called, requested supplies, I got penicillin, more NutriDrench, rubbing alcohol, betadine and lubricant, and I hot footed it home.

Dottie and my husband were in the small goat shed, both with exhausted faces and Dottie still looking very pregnant.  Over the course of the next 2 hours, we pulled out 4 more kids.  After the first one that The Animal Whisperer delivered, she was no longer having contractions (bad sign.)

I washed up to above my elbows with betadine, gloved up and went in, to the second knuckle of my index and middle fingers.  Right away I felt a tiny hoof.  This, the second kid, I pulled out left back leg first, his amniotic sac had already broken.  I attempted, but just couldn’t turn him around.

Next, I reached in up to my forearm, found the next one in a bubble (she was still protected by her sac), and coaxed her out her head first.

Of all of them, Dottie delivered her the easiest…the lubrication of the intact sac helped.

Numbers four and five required reaching in up to between my elbow and armpit, both were stillborn.

We gave Dottie 2 cc’s of penicillin after the first kid was out, in attempt to protect her from the bacteria and germs that we were inevitably introducing to her system.  We’ll give it to her for 7-10 days.  We hope it works.  She had an awful, painful day.

Number three is the one that lived.  She can’t stand up on her back legs successfully yet, so I’ve splinted them at the knees so that they can’t hyperextend, which is helping her maintain standing, but she continues to topple over like a four legged tree at the drop of a hat.  So, no nursing for her yet.  Dottie’s udder is hanging too low and the baby can’t balance well enough to even think about latching on.  We’ve got her inside and she’s had a good amount of Dottie’s colostrum from a bottle.

We warmed her with towels and a heating pad, and now she’s sleeping in a Rubbermaid storage box.

Aren’t you glad you WON??  We’ll see you tonight at midnight at the barn for bottle feeding and checking on Dottie.  And, don’t worry, for the night time feedings, you can wear your pajamas.

-  The Goat Cheese Lady and The Animal Whisperer and Dottie and her baby girl.

Which Goat Do You Think Will Kid First?

Here’s Lucy:

Here’s Dottie:

Here are the facts:  Dottie was due yesterday, April 12.  Lucy is due April 21.  Both of them look like they are the beginnings of labor…TODAY.

Which one do you think will have her babies first???

Can’t wait to hear what you think…and can’t wait to tell you what happens!!!

-  The Goat Cheese Lady

Spring Time!

We are getting our first trickles of fresh, raw, spring milk! (tastes like it has a slight mineral deficiency, slightly sour/bitter…but soon it’ll be perfect!)

…and we’ve planted 200 onions (with the help of my two boys)

…and the seedlings are up (look out greenhouse, here they come!)

…and I’m finished with my winter reading (awesome series, I highly recommend it.)

…and I even did the exercise plan my sister created for me. (killer, but improved from one time to two times!)

Yeah!! Spring is here!

-  The Goat Cheese Lady

Please help Doug and Kim.

UPDATE!!  We received $372.96 for Doug and Kim, thanks to all of you who so generously donated!

Doug and Kim Wiley are the owners, milkers, gardeners, mom and dad, and ranchers at Larga Vista Ranch in Boone, Colorado.  In a chance meeting, Doug taught me about raw milk years ago.  Before we had goats, we had a share in their herd and got our raw cow’s milk from them.  They are the gentle, soft-spoken, forward progressing steam ship in the fresh-food-raw-milk-support-your-local-farmer-movement in Colorado.

And, this morning on Facebook, I learned a sad story.

Elsie, one of their best raw milk producers, had been sick after calving a few days ago, but had recovered and was thought to be doing well.  However, yesterday morning, despite all of their best care, work and intentions, Elsie died.

When a dairy farm loses a cow that was one of their best producers, they lose a huge part of their income.

We typically think that ”supporting your local farmer” means buying their milk, meat or produce…but you can also support your local farmer by shouldering some of the burden when they experience a loss…whether grasshoppers eat the whole crop, or the piglets die because their mother didn’t produce enough milk, or because a milk producing cow dies.

Please help Doug and Kim recover from the loss.  Please donate $10 that they can use to purchase another milk cow, or use to subsidise their loss of income.

If 100 people donate $10, they’ll have $1000.  If you can donate more, or can donate less, that’s great.  Everything will help.

Click on the donate button here or at the top right.

Thanks,

-  The Goat Cheese Lady