Ups and downs of lambing

Lambing this year did not get off to a good start. The first ewe to deliver had stillborn triplets. We suspected she was imminent because of her size but she did not show any of the usual signs that labour was soon to commence: restlessness, foot scraping, panting. When I checked the ewes late Sunday night she was lying down with the tip of a hoof barely showing. Thinking this was the moment I left her for 30 minutes and when I returned to the barn there had been no further progress and she did not appear to be pushing. The ewe clearly needed some assistance and when I felt what was going on there was an 'off' smell which is not usual. I found both legs and pulled the lamb out, fairly sure it was not alive. This was indeed the case.  

I felt inside again in case there were twins and I could feel another. Fortunately I could feel the front legs and the head so was able to pull this one out too. A further check detected the third of the triplets and this was retrieved too. Both, like the first, were dead. Three 'normal pulls', so no physical trauma sustained by the ewe. If the legs are in the wrong position there is a risk of tearing the uterus when manoeuvring them so that the lamb can be pulled out. 

I phoned the duty vet as I was concerned for the ewe but based on the information I gave her she did not feel any intervention beyond monitoring was required. She pointed out that if a lamb does not engage for some reason then the ewe does not experience the impulse to push and this understandably hinders the delivery. I suspect the large size of the the first lamb might be implicated here. 

I had to milk the ewe a few times to reduce the risk of mastitis in the absence of suckling lambs. She seems to be okay.

This morning when I went to the barn first thing there was a second ewe, but this time licking her twins which by the look of them had been born in the previous hour. Two healthy ewe lambs who were soon on their feet suckling from their attentive mother.