I really don\u2019t want to write that life isn\u2019t always good on the franch. \u00a0But, it isn\u2019t. \u00a0It\u2019s 3 a.m. and I\u2019m sitting in the dark in our living room\u00a0with tears streaming down my face remembering the days just lived. \u00a0I go over in my mind how so many things could have gone differently. \u00a0Of course, I dwell on how it could have gone better, forgetting how it could have easily been worse. \u00a0On Valentine\u2019s Day, our cow went into labor. \u00a0And we weren\u2019t there. \u00a0We knew she was getting close to calving and so we had long debated cancelling our out-of-town plans. \u00a0But, my husband and I had trained for months to run a marathon and half-marathon, respectively. \u00a0It isn\u2019t something you easily give up on. \u00a0So, we were staying in a nearby city overnight to run the race on the following early morning. \u00a0My poor parents (who, by the way, know nothing about birthing calves) and our children were in charge of the franch for the overnight. \u00a0It helped our decision to leave knowing that most of the time all goes well. \u00a0Usually, you wake up in the morning and there\u2019s a calf beside her mom. \u00a0When my parents called to say that\u00a0she was indeed in\u00a0labor, we were excited that they were\u00a0going to witness for the first time the beautiful miracle of birth on a farm. \u00a0My father was texting almost every 15 minutes as the evening hours passed. \u00a0But, it soon became clear that labor wasn\u2019t progressing properly and the cow was showing signs of distress. \u00a0I knew my husband was worried when he grabbed the Franchlife shirt that I had given him for Christmas and pulled it on over his marathon shirt from our pre-race day packets. \u00a0He decided to make the long drive home, not knowing if he\u2019d be back in time to complete his marathon, to save a calf. \u00a0We decided that I stay behind so at least one of us would for sure get to that finish line. \u00a0He made the drive in half the time and rushed into our two older children\u2019s bedroom waking them up from a sound sleep. \u00a0My parents and children headed out to herd the still laboring cow from the dark pasture into the barn. \u00a0By this time, it was an emergency to figure out what was wrong. \u00a0My parents and children were alert and wide-eyed listening to every word of instruction spoken by my husband. \u00a0When\u00a0he reached his arm into the cow, he found the calf dangerously breech but still alive. \u00a0The cow couldn\u2019t give birth on her own and the calf needed to be pulled out immediately. \u00a0Every one did their roles amazingly. \u00a0My mom held the halter rope tight keeping the cow in the corner of the pen, while my husband and daughter and father wrapped twine around the back feet of the calf and, using a crowbar for leverage, pulled the calf from the mother cow. \u00a0Our daughter was hysterical, the whole time shouting, \u201cIs it dead? Is it dead?\u201d, yet doing everything asked of her with speed and accuracy. \u00a0My son overwhelmed by the scene dropped his head and let his hood fall over his eyes yet remained ready to respond to any request for a birthing tool lined up before him. \u00a0The calf was born within minutes, but wasn\u2019t breathing. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t over. \u00a0My husband did mouth-to-nose for what seemed like forever as the rest pleaded, \u201cCome on, baby. \u00a0Breathe, baby, breathe.\u201d \u00a0Even mama cow watched intently willing the calf to breathe its first breath. \u00a0Amazingly, its chest started rising and falling. \u00a0It was alive! \u00a0But, it wouldn\u2019t stand up \u2013 and it showed signs that it had been too long without oxygen. \u00a0However, we all remained positive that it just needed some time to gain some strength. \u00a0My husband stayed well past midnight to help the calf in its first hours and to feed its first meal with a syringe as it couldn\u2019t yet stand to drink mama cow\u2019s colostrum. \u00a0He left my father with instructions on the morning feeding once he felt like the calf was on its way to doing well. \u00a0If there is ever such a thing as a Franchlife certificate, my parents will be honored in a grand ceremony for what they were willing to do for that calf. \u00a0In the early morning hours, my father and daughter went out to syringe-feed the calf risking their safety as the mama cow, now very protective over her calf, pawed the ground and threw her head about coming inches from them. \u00a0The calf was doing better, and my daughter even remarked, \u201cIt looks happy, poppy, it really likes you.\u201d \u00a0In the meantime, my husband made it to the starting line after only three hours of sleep. \u00a0I ran every mile faster than any one of all the miles we ran in training. \u00a0And, my husband ran the marathon remarkably\u00a0faster than his goal. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t a runner\u2019s high, it was a francher\u2019s high \u2013 a calf\u2019s life had been saved. \u00a0With medals around our necks, we started gathering our things happily chatting about what we were going to do the rest of the day to help the calf make steady progress. \u00a0It was by then late morning when my dad called and I had answered ready for him to say \u201cCongratulations!\u201d \u00a0I wasn’t expecting to hear,\u00a0\u201cThe calf died.\u201d \u00a0I didn\u2019t want to believe it \u2013 it just\u00a0couldn’t have died. \u00a0But, it had. \u00a0I\u2019ve only seen my husband\u2019s tears a few times in our years together \u2013 another time was when our daughter was in the NICU. \u00a0We arrived home to grieve with my parents and children. \u00a0My father told us how\u00a0my daughter had gone missing and had run into his arms when he found her weeping alone in the barn. \u00a0It was incredibly heartbreaking to watch mama cow grieve for baby. \u00a0She kept nudging its lifeless body not understanding death. \u00a0My daughter had later in the day expressed how she wished the other cow who had given birth a couple of weeks ago had had twins so the grieving cow could now adopt one. \u00a0I need to go to bed so I think of the words of wisdom earlier said by my children knowing my husband and I were still very sad. \u00a0Their mature perspective helps some. \u00a0Our five year old had said, \u201cLook around, mom, at all you still have.\u201d \u00a0And our nine year old had said, \u201cIt\u2019s very sad, it will always be sad, but we have to move on.\u201d \u00a0I\u2019m still crying thinking over and over about how we didn\u2019t save the calf. \u00a0Suddenly, my daughter comes around the corner startling me. \u00a0My sobs woke her up and she snuggles in next to me. \u00a0In the middle of the night and half-asleep, she says, \u201cMom, I\u2019m thankful God saved the calf so it could live one happy day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I really don\u2019t want to write that life isn\u2019t always good on the franch. \u00a0But, it isn\u2019t. \u00a0It\u2019s 3 a.m. and I\u2019m sitting in the dark in our living room\u00a0with tears streaming down my face remembering the days just lived. \u00a0I go over in my mind how so many things could have gone differently. \u00a0Of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/franchlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/franchlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/franchlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franchlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franchlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=849"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/franchlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864,"href":"https:\/\/franchlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions\/864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/franchlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franchlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franchlife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}