There was no place more likely to extend a walk through
visit into over an hour of standing and watching in anticipation than the Miracle
of Birth building at the state fair. As
we walked in a new litter of pigs were on display and video of their birth was
looping overhead. Soon after a vet announced
that a cow’s water had broken but that only meant there would be a birth in the
next few hours.
While looking at the pigs and chatting with one of the vet
students attending the litter another student arrived to inform the fourth year
that another sow was progressing and would be giving birth soon. We naturally followed the action and within a
few minutes had found a place at the front of a farrowing crate. Around the same time the video screens
changed to a live shot of the cow pen and a brief peak at an emerging hoof. At
that point we never articulated it but we were stuck in that place until a new
cow and some new pigs were in the room with us.
The boys craned their necks to get a view, the youngest
asking to climb whatever structure posed a barrier to his vision in order to
inspect the events. In the end about 10 percent of our day at the fair was
spent waiting, not for a ride or a free home depot bucket, but for a miracle, the
miracle of birth, and it was worth it.
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