New life

So, today has been a good day. :) Perhaps even a really good day.

It is January - and today in VA it was sunny with clear blue skies and the temp was a lovely 60 degrees. There was a heavy frost on the ground this morning, and as I drove to work, I was blessed to witness the moon setting over blue mountains with a pink sky. Where the heck was my camera? Ah yes - at my house. Bah. But the mental image is still there. It was magnificent.

I did some surgeries, made some phone calls - pretty routine stuff overall. Then around lunch time I was sent out to help one of our clients with one of her sheep.

This young lady has her own business raising and selling show sheep. She's 18, a freshman at the local community college, and an aspiring veterinarian. We've spent some time together doing various things at her farm and she's been to the clinic to hang out with me before. She's quiet - but very capable when it comes to her lambs. She's one of the top in the state at the show level. I'd even say she's a little famous in this county - and I've witnessed her mentoring younger kids just getting started in the basics of showing sheep (something I know NOTHING about!) She's a great kid.

She called me today because she had a ewe that had been in labor for about 2 hours - she and her dad (a former cattleman) were unable to deliver the lamb. She needed help. I arrived to find a very tired ewe pushing very hard to deliver a lamb that was coming in an abnormal fashion. She (and her dad) were unable to figure out how to get it to come normal.

This isn't a novice, folks. She's been pulling lambs for years. She's already got 70 lambs on the ground this spring - with no assistance from anyone. I was able to tell her how the lamb was positioned, how I figured out how it was positioned, and how I was going to fix it. She watched me intently - and once I got it straight, she and I worked together to successfully deliver the lamb. And great googly moogly, it was alive! As soon as she saw it was breathing, (we both were really surprised that it was alive) she jumped up and ran out of the stall. She returned seconds later with 2 towels and a 'suction bulb' to help clear out its airway. I stood back and watched her work. She does this all the time - and it was amazing to behold. Most of the time when I arrive on the scene to deliver babies, whether they be calves, foals, lambs, goat kids, etc - they usually are not alive. It is such a joy to see a live birth and to know that I was a part of it. Minutes after the lamb was delivered the ewe was up on its feet licking its new offspring. The two women (the ewe and the teenager) worked furiously to get this little lamb going. Soon he was raising his head and cooing to his mom. How great a thing.

I left the barn to get things cleaned up. Before I left, the girl emerged from the barn to let me know that the lamb and the ewe were doing fine. Then she looked me in the eye and gave me the most sincere 'thank you so very much' I've ever received. A sincere 'you are most welcome' was given in return. :)

I returned to the clinic just giddy. I did a few more things then headed out to another farm.

This farm is special. This farm holds the memory of my first emergency call I did as a new vet. This farm is home to the first newborn foal I ever examined. This farm was home to one of the best horseman I have ever known.

Was home.

Chuck Watkins was described to me by my boss as one of the few men I would never need to watch my back around. "He'll never let you get hurt around horses" was what I was told. That statement proved true. Chuck was a tall, lean, strong man who looked far younger than his age of 46. A throwback to days gone by, he would often be found in the afternoons in Wrangler Jeans, cowboy boots, a cut off t-shirt, a straw hat and a red bandana tied around his neck. On my luckier days - he would be without the shirt. :) He would be found teaching young girls how to ride and care for horses - with young men hanging around learning how to be men. He was soft-spoken, gentle and kind, and he could whip up one mean potato salad. He and his wife repeatedly had me into their home to join them for dinner after working on the horses. If I couldn't stay for some reason, he would not let me leave without making me a 'doggie bag' to take with me.

Chuck died a few months ago of a dissecting aorta (kind of like an aneurysm.) It was not expected. It was sudden. It was severe enough to claim his life. I sometimes still can't quite believe that he is gone.

His farm is only a few miles from my house - so I was there often to check on things "on my way home." He had lots of horses of his own, but also did a lot of boarding and training for other people. He rode his horse (and had others join him) in numerous parades through the summer - and was most well known for riding his beloved horse, Rocky, through the streets of our quaint Stuarts Draft - waving at folks. He grew up here in the Draft and was known to most everyone. He had a horse-drawn buggy that he took people for rides on - and he often spent his weekends taking girls to horse shows. He was also a horse breeder and horse trainer. He taught me a lot about moving around horses and dealing with them. His quiet manner showed me that you don't have to be loud to have horses respect you. Or people, for that matter.

I have a ton of memories of Chuck - many more than I could ever write down. I guess one of the more vivid is when I had to put his own very first horse to sleep for him. The horse was in his 30's and was thin, and painful, and had lain down in his stall and was unable to rise. It was time. Having such a strong man show such tender emotion towards an animal is one of the things that makes me cry. Even now. He just loved his horses so much.

I was unable to make it to his funeral, but I was told of it. They placed his casket in a horse-drawn wagon and took him, one final time, through the streets of Stuarts Draft. His trusty steed, Rocky, was led along beside him - Chuck's cowboy boots placed backward in the stirrups of his saddle. One last parade. It was a gorgeous day - fitting for his farewell. Rocky is the only horse I've ever seen mentioned in an obituary, but that's just what Chuck would have wanted, I think.

Now, I started off this post saying it was a good day. It was. Here's why:

One of the things I did at the farm today was check Chuck's favorite mare, Honey, to see if she was pregnant. His widow, Paula, said that he only bred her once this past summer and that there was little chance she would get pregnant. Honey has been growing larger - so Paula requested that I check her.

Remember how I said that this farm was the first that I checked a newborn foal at? It was Honey's - and I remember how PROUD Chuck was of that baby. She's still at the farm, in fact.

Honey is indeed pregnant. I could feel a little foal kicking at me wildly as I touched it's head safe inside it's mother's womb. Paula cried as I told her that there was indeed one more baby to be born on this farm. At the spurring on of the other folks gathered around, (why do I always have an audience when I have my arm up an animal's rear end?) I told Paula to put on a glove and take a feel for herself. It's just such an amazing thing to feel life like that bouncing around inside a mare's tummy. And it's so bittersweet. Chuck would be so happy to know that Honey is going to have another baby - but it's so sad to think that he won't be around to see it.

In the face of death and loss - there is still new life. And when things happen to help me remember that - well, that just makes it a really good day.

My best friends Samantha and Chad (both vets) recently welcomed their new son, William Cole into the world. He was born at 7am on January 1st via an emergency C-section. Little Cole's umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice. Because her labor wasn't progressing and the baby's heart rate was dropping, they opted for the C-section. Praise the Lord that both he and Samantha are fine! And boy is he cute! I can't wait to see him!

Ok, that's enough for today. Probably enough for a long while. :) Thanks for reading.