Day 1ish...

Grace and I arrived in Iceland at approximately 7:00 in the morning Iceland time, which is four hours ahead of Maine. The first half of the plane ride was impressively turbulent, rather reminiscent of a ride down the Witter Farm road, except this ride was four hours long and 34,000 feet above ground (or around 10,000 meters... must remember to use metric here!). Nonetheless, we made it without any issues and I think Grace was even able to sleep during the flight, because she is some kind of superhuman. During the hour long ride to Hestur Farm, we experienced rain, snow, hail and sun, all of which looked pretty in their own way against the Icelandic landscape.

Once at Hestur, which is apparently the swan capital of Iceland, judging by the number of swans in the fields, we got a tour of the farm, primarily for my benefit, although I think Grace enjoyed seeing all the familiar faces again. Most of the horses were outside, unperturbed by the snow covering the ground, but one mare was inside with her impressively stocky 1-2 day old foal.

Shortly after this photo was taken, the foal asked me: "do you even lift?"

Once back with the sheep, my first task was to take the "placenta stick" and remove passed placentas from the jugs. Some of the sheep appeared offended that I would take their placentas, but most didn't mind. It was a good opportunity to meet individual sheep and also to watch what all the more experienced people were doing, which was ear tagging and weighing, and subsequently moving ewes and lambs out of their jugs and into shared quarters. Although things had been quiet when we arrived, it wasn't long before we were moving ewes in labor into newly open jugs. 

Cuddle buddies.

Cuddle buddies x5

The first lamb I helped deliver at Hestur!

In between sheep, the jugs were swept to remove any poop or other substances stuck in the grates, and then sprinkled with a pink antibacterial powder. I have no idea what's in the powder but it's a rather cheerful color and smells like fruit flavored Tums, of all things.

This ewe decided she liked me and she liked back scratches too.

My new friend looking proud of her kids.

Grace and I got a much needed nap break in the afternoon, then we headed back to the barn until 1:00am. This time we were on our own. Things began calmly, but soon all the open jugs were filled. Despite us checking for labor signs as often as possible, one ewe managed to have a lamb while in with the other ewes. Two other ewes tried to lick it off, and one tried to follow the lamb and its actual mother to the jug. Since the first delivery for that ewe went so well, we let our guards down while we were assisting other ewes. When we next checked that ewe, she had a head out but no legs and refused to stop pushing vigorously. Grace managed pull one leg out, which was sufficient for delivery in this instance. I soon got my first experience delivering a lamb from a yearling. That one also required re-positioning, and I actually ended up with a small bruise from where a poorly-timed contraction jammed my hand against her pelvic bone with surprising force. After this delivery, I walked by our problem ewe and noticed legs sticking out again (surprise! It's triplets). This one was backwards but a swift pull from Grace got it out without injury to mom or baby.

We dubbed her the Diva Sheep. The purple means she will stay on the home fields but it may also signify royalty.

As we were getting ready to leave, two ewes went into labor. One of them gave the best pushes when given encouragement (we found out later she had given birth to one of the farm's most prized rams and it sort of went to her head). The other was expecting triplets, but one had died probably several weeks prior. The mother and other two lambs were healthy and well, and one of the lambs was positively huge (perhaps she crowded out the stillborn one).

In all, it was an overwhelming but good first day!

A sickly ewe lamb placed with the orphans in case they had healing powers like Steve.

The orphans. I could believe they have healing powers, but they primarily have screaming powers.