It's a Boy, Boy, Boy, Boy, Boy, Boy, Boy, Girl, Girl, &Girl!

Let's try this again. I'm having issues with my computer today. I wrote this once already, but it only posted the first line. So, here we go again.

Today was a land mark in the life of this City Gal. Our sow had her first litter of piglets. 10 in all: 7 boars and 3 gilts (check me out, knowing what a gilt is). They're absolutely precious (I know I won't be saying that in about 2 months).

I was getting ready for church this morning (make up on, hair in hot rollers, blue velvet pant suit laid out... It's much cooler than it sounds) when Husband comes bounding in the door and says our largest sow is having her piglets. He grabbed an old rubbermaid tote we use to keep outdoor odds and ends and gave it to me to clean up. Then he headed back out to start collecting piglets. I grabbed the old towels and Iodine.

If you've never seen piglets minutes after they're born, I have to tell you, they're icky. Very, very Icky! And boy can they scream (I told my Aunt, forget about the screaming of the lambs, pigs are bad enough. But a horror movie called Silence of the Pigs doesn't have the same ring to it). But against my City Gal nature, I pulled myself up by my Farm Wife boot straps, grabbed a towel and started cleaning pigs. I rubbed them down, cleaned off excess placenta, tossed out umbilical cords when they fell off, held them for shots, and never gagged once! This is a big deal for me. I have a very weak stomach.

Husband's aunt and uncle took the two oldest kids to church. My aunt and uncle came over to help with the piglets. It was a messy affair, but we got through it. One little girl wasn't doing so well. She wasn't warming up like her siblings and was very lethargic. I rubbed her down with a warm towel while my aunt worked on the runt who wasn't too warm either. Between my rubbing, then my aunt's rubbing, a shot of Iron, 2 shots of penicillin, and some time, she seems to be holding her own for the moment (so does the runt who just needed some loving).

I never knew the amount of work it takes to deliver piglets. I'm just glad they chose to make their appearance when Husband was here. I'd have never known what to do if they came while he was at work. They had to be brought in the house to warm up (and so their mom wouldn't set on them), cleaned up, Iodine poured on their umbilical stumps, Iron shots in their necks, antibiotics in their hips, panels put up to keep the cold out of the hog shed, new straw brought in from Grandpa's barn, heat lamps moved, & a shot for the sow. I couldn't even get over the fence to get to the sow if I had to (it's not sturdy enough to climb. Husband can just step over it, but he's 6' tall).

She picked the coldest day this week to have them, but the should be ready just in time to sell to 4 H'rs for fair.

And what did we have for lunch on New Pig Day? Pigs in a blanket of course!