A SEPTEMBER BABY.

~A Calving at the Bingman Ranch~ 

Late last week Cousin Jessie informed me that one of their cows, Lilly, was due to give birth any day.  I told her to call me as soon as Lilly went into labor so I could be there to see her calf be born.  I had never seen a live birth so I was particularly determined to be there for the birth of the new calf!  I was certain Lilly would deliver when Jessie and I were off on our weekend adventure but fortunately she waited until Monday evening!  Jessie called me at about 6 o'clock and told me they were pretty certain Lilly was in labor.  I dropped everything and rushed across town!  I was so excited you would have thought I was attending the birth of a human baby!  Once I arrived Uncle Jim, Aunt Dee, Jessie and I (and all the barnyard cats) sat out by the corral and watched Lilly progress.  But it was slow going!  Soon the sun set and a beautiful full moon rose.  Uncle Jim and Aunt Dee gave up and went to bed.  Jessie and I however, were there when Miss Lilly FINALLY gave birth to a beautiful baby girl just after midnight!

  

Waiting for baby . . .

    

STILL waiting!

~WARNING~

The following pictures are of the actual birth of Lilly's calf!  They aren't particularly graphic but I thought you might appreciate a warning!  I am notoriously weak stomached and I did just fine watching the entire birthing process!  But you've been warned--just in case!  :)

Around ten we finally gave up and went in the house to warm up.  Jessie ran out to the corral every fifteen minutes or so to check Lilly's progress.  The last time she came running back and said the water bag had finally come out!  I wasn't really sure how long we had after the water broke so I contemplated taking a quick power nap!  However, fortunately, we grabbed our gear and headed back out immediately.  In the short amount of time it took us to walk back out to the corral, the hooves were already showing!

  

The front hooves!

  

And next the nose!  I love how her tongue hung out!

Jessie had to keep reassuring me that, despite how it looked, the calf was alive!

This was the point where I was just in AWE!

I wanted to take pictures but I wanted to just stand and watch too!

What an unbelievably cool experience!

    

WELCOME BABY!

 

  

  

Lilly is such a good mom and I was so grateful she let me be RIGHT there for the whole thing!

Thanks Mama!  You did good work!

  

I couldn't believe the new baby was standing up a mere 15 minutes after being born!

And it takes us humans YEARS to learn to walk?

  

I was amazed by the instincts of both mama and baby!  Both of them just knew what they were suppose to do!  After baby was up and walking around, she immediately started looking for something warm to drink!

I finally left the ranch at around 2am!

But I couldn't wait to return the next day to see what my baby looked like dry!

ISN'T SHE ADORABLE!!!

  

Jessie tells me I get to name her!

What an awesome responsibility though!

I'm still working on one!

MY FIRST BIRTH!

SEPT. 2008