More lambing news

Most male pensioners get up in the night for a pee. But most do not expect to see a sheep in obstructed labour right outside the bathroom window.

This poor lady had the baby’s head hanging out and nothing else happening. The contractions seemed to be going away.

So what do you do? Go back to bed or phone the crofter neighbour?  Perhaps it is normal sheep behaviour and the crofter will not be amused?

Thank goodness crofter neighbour was not too cantankerous and came out to have a look.

He unceremoniously hauled the lamb out by the one little leg which was poking out beside the head.

The lamb seemed very dead and its mother seemed quite uninterested. She was probably in a state of exhaustion and shock poor thing.

However after a while of doing horrible things like poking his fingers down its throat the crofter sparked a bit of life into the lamb.

The crofter wondered if there was another lamb to come because the mother was contracting again

BUT

To the horror of all, what she pushed out was her own womb (uterus) – turned inside out.

Now this is not a good thing at all and has to be put right fairly quickly. If left too long it becomes swollen and can’t be pushed back. However it is a job for the vet.

Luckily the vet is near on the other side of the glen and was happy to have the sheep brought across.

However – said sheep did not want to be caught and ran all over the hillside - with its womb hanging out behind.

Eventually she was caught, put in the trailer and got to the vet.

My admiration of vets has soared

The vet gave the sheep an epidural to relieve pain. Now as a doctor who spent some time doing Obstetrics, I can say with authority that this is a very difficult procedure.  A needle must be inserted into just the right place between two back vertebrae and into the space around the spinal cord and never into the spinal cord. Just imagine doing that in a big woolly highly stressed sheep – Wow

He then washed and cleaned the womb and pushed it back into just the right position and put some stitches over the entrance to stop it coming straight out again.

Mother and baby saved

And both still doing well