The miracle of birth is always awesome, whether a human baby or a baby lamb. Humans go to hospitals. Ewes stay home and lamb in pens in the barns or in pastures. The downside is they seem to like to lamb at night when you should be sleeping. So you need an intercom in the bedroom and one in the barn. I can't talk to them. They only know ba ba. But I can listen for the ba ba. And if I hear it at night I know either they are going to have a lamb or lambs, are having them or did have them. In any case, to be the "good shepherd," you need to be with your flock under all conditions--like the time it was 22 below zero outside and 19 degrees below zero in the barn. With heat lamps over the pens, out of the 600 or so lambs I had over the years, I only lost around a dozen from hypothermia.

There are challenges, like having twins, triplets, or even quintuplets. There a few sheep that have had six lambs! But only one lamb can come out at a time. Now, I have large hands. Trying to reach in the vagina to pull out a lamb was initially a challenge for me and certainly a challenge for the "mom." What is even worse is to have twins or triplets coming out of one ewe while three other ewes are having contractions, meaning they are starting to lamb.

Here is a typical scenario when you have multiple births: With the "mom" starting contractions, the first thing you should see is the two front feet of the lamb coming out of the birth canal. That's front feet, not back feet; you have to know the difference. Front feet bend at the knee. Back feet don't. If there is a problem, like the ewe is straining but nothing is happening, you need to go into the birth canal, and with your hand, feel around and decide if the front feet or the back feet are going to come out first. If the back feet are coming out first, push the feet back in, turn the lamb around, grab the front feet and pull.

It's like my airplane days, flying in a fog where you can't see out. In this case, you can't see in. You need to be sure the two feet are attached to one lamb, not two feet attached to two different lambs. If you find two front feet on one lamb and start pulling, but nothing happens, you have another problem. Chances are the lamb's head is turned back. OK, so now you hold on to the front feet, making sure they are fully extended. With the other hand reach in, find the head, put your hand behind the head so it is facing forward and pull again. In the meantime the "mom's" thinking, "What the hell's going on back there!" Even at 19 degrees below in the barn, without any heat lamps, you will be sweating.

Another typical problem is a breech birth, where the lamb is coming out backwards. Again two choices: The first choice is to reach in and turn it around then pull it out. If you decide to simply pull it out backwards and you know the two legs are from the same lamb, one must pull hard and fast. If you take your merry old time and pull slowly, the umbilical cord might break while the lamb is still inside. When this happens, the breaking of the umbilical cord sends a message to the brain signaling the lamb to start breathing air. Instead, it will breathe in birth fluid, if still in the ewe's womb, and you could have a case of pneumonia on your hands.

So to all you moms who have had, or will be having a baby or maybe twins, you've got it made. You're not in a barn, you have trained doctors and nurses, and they know what they are doing!