Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
I had my second child at home with a midwife to deliver her. The midwife was an older lady who came out of the depression. After giving birth I also apprenticed with her as a midwife for a couple of years. She had strict rules about birth. Moms were to be fed meals of their choosing after giving birth for 2 weeks. Dads were to see that their wives did not have to jump right back to strenuous physical activity. She encouraged supplements before and after birth and lots of fruits and electrolytes. But, your body will always tell you what it needs if you let it. So she preached that new moms should always eat what they hungered for.
I always laugh about hospital birth stories. My daughter was born at home at 6:09AM on June 12. Then my midwife fixed me a big breakfast of sausage and homemade buttermilk biscuits with sliced fresh tomatoes. She went to my garden and picked the tomatoes for me. She put my dirty linens from the birth in the washer, picked the plums that were ripe off my tree for me because I was worried about them, blanched them, dropped them in the deep freeze, got my sheets out of the wash and hung them to dry and by that time my Grama and mom had arrived. She told them I needed to drink Gatorade that day (she knew I liked it) and that I should be given anything in the world to eat that I thought I was hungry for. Said my body would know what it needed. Then, she went home.
Experience was a lot different with my first daughter in the hospital. Given that there are no problems I'd recommend childbearing at home to anyone.
So, I imagine if/when we move to a safe rural place, perhaps we can get some (provided they are self-supporting in some way, like providing milk...)<<<
You should be able to find a good nubian goat that will give your 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 gallons each day.
Then you will want a second that is bred to fill in the months that the first one is kidding again.
And one to give milk to raise the calf and pigs on and then the leftover milk and whey can go to the poultry and with about one more goat, you can name your homestead the
“Cotton Ball Goat Homestead”.
And they will give you all the loving you can handle and if given the chance, will mother you too.
LOL Hot Rod Granny<<<
How can you say that?
You never rode with me.
Hey, try it, it might work.
Here is some good information on uses for cornmeal. I have used some of these and found they work. Haven't used them all so can't vouch for all
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/116/
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/18/
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/153/
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/2149/
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/1959/
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/1372/
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/17/
okay, I am obviously html challenged when it comes to making the links show up when I'm *using* html. If anybody wants to tell me that code I'll try to remember it. I used to know it... but use it or lose it, I've lost it.
Thanks for the info on the Whey powder, I will have to try it, one can use more food value in most foods of today.
I was not aware that it was a powder, years ago we had the pills of whey available for extra protein.
Yes it is. And other parts can be poisonous if you pick them at the wrong time or prepare them wrong. But, it is good if you know what you are doing.
Oh wow, did they wreck the trees? Did you chase them away or let the dogs out?<<<
The dogs were out, they knew they would be stomped, if they got close to them.
They ate the trees to the ground, a few grew anyway, but I lost 2 years growth.
One night I heard a racket in my corral, after I had sold my horses.
I went out and there were 2 Jacks fighting, I stayed far away, for I have had my taste of hooves coming down on me.
They fought, until they had the skin tore off their throats and hanging down about 18 inches or more.
There was nothing that I could do for them, they were wild, big and in heat.
They finally moved on.
I didn’t know goats give that much milk. Or were so loving.
Chickens drink milk? That’s a new one on me!
How do goats fare with cold weather? I’d build them a shelter, of course, since we get 5 or more feet of snowpack, but I’m worried about the cold for goats, chickens, and maybe rabbits.
electrolytes.<<<
That is the word that I could not remember, and the reason for the honey and salt.
It is truly the real reason that women have so many problems giving birth, in my opinion, I do know that it worked with my goats.
I too fed them extra, but not milk making foods, until after the birth is over.
A local Indian man, told me that his family always fed them the mistletoe that grows on the trees in the desert, not a lot, maybe a pint to a quart of it, they will leave what they do not want.
It is a good laxative for them.
Your Midwife, sounds like she liked what she did and I am so glad you had her with you.
It is true, our bodies will tell us what it needs.
I have noticed that I want raisins in the early spring and when it is real hot in the summer, I want citrus.
Two things that are not really favorites.
I love how mothers in the animal kingdom are so good.)<<<
If only the human mothers still had the same basic ‘mother’ instinct that the animals do.
But then I have had animals and poultry who would produce the babies, but not care a thing about raising them.
There was a feral cat that every year, produced a litter and then at 2 weeks abandoned them, even when I brought her in the house to have the last batch.
Guess she knew that I would do my best with them.
Thanks for the cornmeal in the garden links, I will check them out later.
Feel a nap coming on, didn’t sleep much last time in bed.
I think that I might be glad that poke weed does not grow here.
How do goats fare with cold weather? I’d build them a shelter, of course, since we get 5 or more feet of snowpack, but I’m worried about the cold for goats, chickens, and maybe rabbits.<<<
I see a nice solar barn in your future.
I pinged J.D. and Cal, as I have not had goats in the really cold country.
A few inches and 2 or 3 days are all that I know about.
And for that one year, a nanny was ready to kid and we finally had to bring her indoors, as the storm brought her labor on, and was cross wise, so we lost it, we had to pull all 3 of the kids.
So with the 2 kids and Mama, we lived in the house with her.
Quite an experience, we have 2 old mobiles, with an extra room in the middle, at that time, we had a couple kids and slept in one, but the other was the kitchen and living room, etc.
The middle room was not finished at the time, Bill was laying a flagstone floor and was at the half way point, so no problem, we kept her on the dirt portion.....
Blocked the open archway to the kitchen.
If I was in the kitchen, her head was over the blocker, talking to me and asking what I was doing, what I was fixing and telling me she was damn tired of goat feed.
Mama put her kids to bed about the same time as we put ours down, and kept an eye on us.
Once we went to bed and turned the lights out, that was it, she had all her kids in bed, now she could sleep.
And if one of us got up in the night and turned a light on, we were in trouble......she made it clear “I told you it was bedtime and what are you doing up?”, “Do you want to wake up all the babies?”
She watched every step the offender of her rules took and sent them back to bed.
When she went back to the goat shed/pen, I missed her.
And for years when it rained hard, the smell would come from under the flagstone for a day or less/more.
But it was sure handy having her in the middle room, as all the soiled hay/manure was easy to fork into the greenhouse, which the middle room had been a part of.
I loved the middle room, as a part of the greenhouse, and was upset, the day I came home from work and discovered that Bill had replaced the roof with a metal one.
I could like living in a greenhouse.
Yes, all poultry, hogs, cats,dogs and calves will eat /drink milk.
Your calves will not get the scours and die, if you raise them on goat milk and humans who are on goat milk, do not have the stomach problems and allergies that those on cow milk have.
Just do not run to the vet for all the shots they have invented to SELL you.
I was reading a goat thread a few years ago on the internet and am still in shock, at all the trips to the vet the owners made.
Just remember, that if you give the goat a shot or pills, it will be in the milk and meat that you eat.
My son takes his old dog to the vet, several times a year, she is hugely overweight and almost 20 years old, and the vet tells him she must go on a diet, but it does not happen and he really cannot afford the trips, but someone convinced him that the Vet needs to see the dog.
Goats are a healthy, loving animal.
If they need a Vets attention, then get rid of them, as they will not give good or plentiful milk or healthy kids.
Sure there are one time accidents/illness that you might want a Vet for.
For Mama’s cross wise baby, I called Bertha, a friend who also loved goats and she knew exactly what to do and did it.
Bill was at work and I had watched him pull pigs and read the book, but not attempted it all alone.
To watch someone like Bertha or Bill handle babies that won’t come out, is to watch God at work.
So Bertha and I sat at the table in the middle room, with our coffee and she got acquainted with Mama and then helped deliver the babies.
I guess even the animal kingdom has their bad mothers too. But I imagine there’s more good ones than not - else they wouldn’t survive as a species!
I was thinking the same thing about human mothers myself ;(
<<<
Maybe, it is all God’s plan, keeps down over population.
Or shows us how valuable a good mother really is.
Heh - we had supper early tonight. Lloyd is home sick again today. He tried to go back to work too soon and is in the midst of a relapse. I fed him roast, carrots, taters and gravy tonight. Coconut pie for dessert. He won't rest today and he sounds bad when he talks. I just gave him strong tea of catnip and spearmint. He needs some rest.
That is a beautiful place!!! How awsome to have those kinds of views!
I learned a lot from that lady. She was a great blessing in many ways. She was from south Mississippi and just as comfortable to be around as anyone I've ever met. I enjoyed doing the apprentice midwifery but learned many things unrelated to birthing babies.
And there were things that I thought I knew in some distant way about natural nutrition which this lady confirmed time and again. Good old fashioned common sense. And like you said with the salts. She knew enough to not cut the salt from a new mom. She realized that with all that fluid loss and hard labor the body needed salt and sugar.
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