“Alpacas will give birth during the day, especially if sunny” “Animals tend to give birth during a full moon” “If there’s horrid weather, that is when your animals will go into labor”
What we really learned about the timing of labor is that it’s going to happen when it is going to happen.
Here is how Saturday, 1/30/21 was supposed to happen. Harry was due to work which meant he would be out the door super early and I would go back to bed. Because sleep is absolutely wonderful. Then I would spend the day getting things done around the house. Hah!
Here is how Saturday really went. It was a full moon…and windy…and rainy…and thundering and lightning. Harry woke up early and checked our barn cameras. He was so confused when he saw Rain going to the bathroom in the shelter. Our alpacas do not start a communal pile in the shelter. Not even when its raining. Then he realized that there was a head and legs hanging out of our sweet Rain. He woke me up and I swear I moved as fast as I could getting our prearranged baby kit and towels out to the shelter but by the time we made it, Rain’s newborn was already out and ready to greet the world by 6:33 am.
The first hour was both the most amazing thing we have ever experienced and also the most terrifying. Our new baby was cold. Cria (Alpaca babies) should be between 100 and 102 degrees. She was only 97. We used just about every towel we owned trying to dry her up and warm her up. Harry pulled her into his jacket to give her body heat. As a reminder, Rain is not our friendliest Alpaca so she definitely made it well known that she wasn’t super happy with us during all this fun.
Harry set up a makeshift shelter inside his shop because our barn isn’t supposed to be built for 2 more weeks. Because of course it’s not. Our mentor told us to grab the hair dryer and start warming her up. (Side note: if you ever decide to open an Alpaca Ranch I cannot overstate how important it is to have an amazing mentor who answers your frantic texts at 6:30 am).
Meet Whipple’s Raining Kings Liberty (Liberty for short). So far she is a healthy baby girl that looks like a twin of Grace. We did have a moment when we weren’t sure whether she was getting enough milk from momma Rain, so we prepared some milk to bottle feed her which was actually kind of fun. Our mentor let us know we were being overly worried parents and she was good. Liberty prefers her momma’s milk anyway which is good.
A HUGE thank you to Alpacas of Aledo (our amazing mentors) and the Rushings (our best friends who rushed over to help us).
Liberty is already running all over the place and curious about everything. Expect more pictures and videos to come as we all watch Miss Liberty grow up. And await the arrival of Grace’s baby in the coming weeks.
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