This past Sunday we took the kids to the Houston Rodeo to see the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lavado in concert. I’ll post about that later in the week.The reason why I’ll talk about that later is that the real hit and excitement came from Hannah the pig.
At one of the exhibits in the children’s area of the rodeo, is a place where they house all the animals that are about to give birth.
This is where I met Hannah, we looked into each others eyes and immediately bonded.
Poor Hannah, she was due on Saturday, so technically on Sunday, “she was overdue” and pigs “don’t go late.”
Been there done that.
I went 14 days over with one of my children. My husband had to keep me from killing the nice people who kept asking, “haven’t you had that baby yet?”
But, good for Hannah she was in early labor, she was miserable.
She was tossing and turning, biting at the bars, she was leaking milk.
I wanted to sit next to her and help her breath,
“in through the nose, out through the mouth.”
“you can do it Hannah, only a little longer…”
You think I am joking, but I am telling you as a hormonal pregnant woman I was getting a little emotional watching the pig.
Having had a few of my babies in a hospital, I prefer a birthing center, I was also about to prison break Ol’ Hannah out the “birthing pen” and get her a little more comfortable in a nice bed with some pillows and ice chips.
But the A&M students supervising the birth assured me that this was the best place for the babies so Hannah didn’t roll over on them and squish them.
My husband, realizing I was getting a little too attached and emotional about a pig, and tired from watching her do “nothing” for half the day (try that when I am in labor buddy!) drug myself and the kids away to go to the concert.
Fast forward to the end of a scream fest of little girls for the Jonas Brothers…
My middle daughter wanted to leave and go see if the pig had babies.
Yipee, so did all the other kids! So as the last song played, and little girls cried, we bolted for the exit to march the mile back to the other venue to see the Hannah late on a school night!
When we got there, Hannah had just had her 2nd baby!
One by one, Hannah had her babies. I think I cried a few times.
After an hour and 6 babies, we had to leave. The little kids were already asleep and the bigger kids had finally had enough of live pig birth.
Really, does that ever get old?
I said “goodbye” to Hannah and wished her luck.
Then as I walked away, I realized, that Hannah was only pregnant for 116 days.
I have been pregnant for 1,830 days so far,
Hannah was in labor for 4 hours,
I have been in labor for 64 hours.
Hannah had 6 babies in 1 hour,
It has taken me 12 years to have 6 babies.
Then I quit feeling bad for Hannah, started feeling bad for myself, and wondered if she tasted like bacon?
Just kidding, she was an awesome mama! It was really fun to watch and my kids LOVED it. Much better than screaming, crying girls, at a concert that was too loud.
Us city folks, don’t get to see animals having babies every day you know!
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I get like that over the animals on display, pregnant or not. I had a similar experience at the Iowa State fair last summer. My husband is such a patient man.
Awwww….how adorable! I would have stayed there and watched too. As a mommy of twins, I know what it is like to be ready to pop those little things out! Thanks for sharing that fun post!
I think she spells it, "Hanna." ;)That was so interesting!
I will say as a farmer's wife it's amazing what you will see. I have not seen pigs being born (they are just the cutest as piglet) though we do have pigs. Though I have watched calves being born and have watched my husband go on up in to grab onto the calves legs, put his feet against the hind end of a cow (for better leverage) and have to pull with as much force as he could to get a stuck calf out (that poor mama was so small and her calf was HUGE). If not they both would have died. I'm just glad no one had to do that to me when my little one was born! 🙂
AWWWWWWW! I'm not pregnant but based on my unreasonable attachment to the pig through the simple PHOTO I think I might be spiritually pregnant. Or nuts. Poor piggy! And those piglets! They are HUGE for newborns! Look how grown up they are! I bet that was alot of pushin'!and in Hannah's defense, you know she's probably had like 40 children over the years…
Since I grew up on a farm which raised thousands of pigs, this is nothing new for me. I can, however, assure you that the mom to baby size ratio is much nicer for them than it is for us. They seem to push them out with relative ease. But then again, they have 10-14 babies on average. I'm just fine with one at a time! Please bring the family to the Iowa State Fair sometime! There's an entire barn devoted to baby animals which my kids would stay in all day. We'll be glad to show you around!