Congratulations to Sarah and Tom!! They are friends of ours who just had a beautiful baby girl. Tom and Tim met while at college and he also returned to the family dairy farm.
When dairy farmers have babies, there is ALWAYS a story. Most of the stories involve wives rolling their eyes and the husband going on like he is a war hero. We hear stories about dairy farmers nearly missing the birth, driving tractors to the hospital, and making calf pulling jokes to the doctors. As you know dairy farming is a 24x7x365 job and having a baby just doesn’t fit into that crazy schedule. Also, dairy farmers seem to have a chip on their shoulders and think they know everything about birth.
When we had our first child, my lovely husband made the same crude calf pulling jokes. He even told the doctor that he had delivered more “babies” in his life time. He then proceeded to chat corn prices with the doctor while he was performing my c-section. To top it off, after about a mere two hours of recovery, he decided it would be a good idea to go and cut hay.
Despite all his misgivings in the delivering room, having a dairy farmer as a husband and the Dad to my children is wonderful. He was also a good help to have in the delivery room. Tim knew every drug or hormone they were giving me, the effects and the withdrawal period on lactating bovine. As a dad, he is always teaching our boys interesting facts, giving them rides in the tractors and taking them on long drives to the auction (so I can get alone time).
I have yet to hear Sarah and Tom’s “story”, and I am sure it is a good one, but their Jacklyn is lucky to have been born into a dairy family.
I would love hear other farm families “birth” stories. What is yours?
Emily
Zweber Farms is a 4th generation family operated organic dairy. We are proud Organic Valley farmer members and sell our milk under that label. We also specialize in sustainably raised beef, pork and chicken and sell it directly to customers in Minnesota.Visit our website to learn more, www.zweberfarms.com
My wife did not like my stories of pulling pigs. I’m sure I’m not the only pork producer who has talked pig birth with his soon to give birth wife.
🙂 I was my parents’ first child. I was born July 21. When my Mom told my Dad they had to go to the hospital (in the middle of the night) he asked if she couldn’t hold it, as they had one more day of haying left.
She said no.
HAHAHAHA-It’s not like she just had to pee!
Mine was alot like yours, Emily! Brent was telling me how he was going to bring some twine and chains JUST IN CASE modern medicine couldn’t do it’s job! When they were doing my epidural they asked if he would like to sit instead of stand because they have a lot of men pass out from the sight of such a big needle being injected into their loved ones spine! You can about imagine the look he gave them and went on to explain AAAAAlllllll the bloody, gorry, mucossy, whatever he has seen as a farmer! LOL
It was a very special time for me to say the least
Ah yes…. the birth stories…. mostly I remember the look on my non-farm friend’s faces when my husband would relay these stories. Their jaws would hit the floor. I remember snickering (both myself and my husband) the very first time I used a breast pump. Birth is such a trying experience, and I mostly didn’t mind the humor that my farmer husband would interject. Because often, even though crude, his knowledge wasn’t too far off base, and I guess it’s better to have a hubby who thinks he knows and is somewhat sympathetic than to have one who is completely clueless and freaked out. This is an awesome blog entry and it’s good to know that my husband isn’t the only childbirth “expert” eager to share his knowledge.
Lol, Thanks Emily for including Tom, Jacklyn, and I in your blog. I just got to reading it today. I guess I don’t have as fun as a birth story as you, but Tom did have some crazy assumptions about human birth.
First, when I told him he should pack some things for himself in our hospital bag, he replied “Why do I need to pack anything? We’re going to be in and out of the hospital in 6 hours right?” Yeah, honey, I’m not a milking cow who recovers after a few hours only to be milked right away. Lol.
Tom didn’t make any cow jokes during the delivery or any remarks to the doctor about how many calves he has delivered. But he did confess that a few times during my pregnancy he almost said “When you calf” instead of “When you give birth” as a start to a sentence! He even admitted he wanted a baby girl instead of a baby boy! Weird! I think it’s because he is always hoping his cows have heifers!
I’m sure I can tell you the rest of the actual birth story later, but I thouroughly enjoyed the blog!
Sarah Tangen
Thanks for sharing Sarah!! We cannot wait to see your little one.