Mrs. Sheep is on Lamb watch; or not.
I have raised sheep before, but never for lambing, only market animals so I have not been exposed to the idiosyncrasies of sheep labor. I am however, confident that barring a breech birth or multiples, I can handle most medical emergencies, including birthing. Handling them and knowing the processes and stages of birthing are completely different areas of expertise so I differ to those that know in the areas I lack. First a bit of background about Mrs. Sheep.
We bought our first ewe sheep off Craig's list. We got two of them the same day- April 7th, 2021. Well, the guy we got them from stated that the sheep we have come to name, Mrs. Sheep might have been bred since she was in a pasture that had a ram running in it, but he wouldn't definitively say yes or no since he was "away for most of the time". Just in case, we fed her like she was expecting and she did get a bigger belly. As time goes by, she gets bigger, and we feed more, and we have a friend that knows goats and sheep pretty well check her out and she isn't sure. 
Fast forward two months and now, she has quite a tummy, Our sheep friend still isn't sure and because we didn't know when or if she was bred, and she isn't showing signs of pregnancy like an engorging udder, "sloppy" rear end, or pacing etc. I cut down the feed, Friend says no- keep going with the feed just in case. We will know soon enough, right? 145 days is the usual pregnancy and because we don't have a definite cover date I raise feed level again. I have since expanded the run they have access to, so more room and access to free grazing. Still big belly, and no signs yet. Okay, I'm waiting.
So I go out two days ago, and I find her like this. Panting hard, and erratically. I look up gestational calculators and plug in the last day a Ram could have impregnated her. Since we got her on the 7th, I entered the 6th. It takes a sheep 145 days on average to have a lamb, so it spits out August 31 for me with an over under of Aug 22 to Sept 12. Okay, still no udder engorgement, and still we wait.
These next pictures are of yesterday, Sept 3, 2021 and I go out to find her lying pronated on the ground, feet and legs totally under her, head stretched out face in the chain link wall of her pen. She is breathing hard and in a manner that reminds me of the La Maz breathing techniques taught in the classes me and my ex took during the days of having our own kids. Short staccato-like gasps. Fast but deep with an occasional deeper catch-up breath, then back to panting. Repeat: staccato, catch-up, panting. This goes on for 20-30 minutes then she gets up walks over to the feed bin like nothing was happening and starts to munch. JoAnn and I separate the ram out of the pen with Mrs. Sheep letting him run with the two doeling goats, which he immediately head butts to show who's older (only by a day or two at most!) and in charge. That is another story though... 
Unsure of whether or not of our sheep's pregnancy even is a pregnancy, what she is doing is normal and what we are supposed to do if so, or what is happening if she is not, we contact our knowledgeable friend, Batina, in a frantic exchange on the Messenger app. We tell her what's been happening, what is happening and in the photo on the left, tell her that Mrs. Sheep has been acting odd. She is a wary pasture sheep, not one for the pleasantries of petting, head scratching nor any human contact really, so her coming up to us on her own is odd behavior to me. Four video posts, and countless text posts later, we are at the same confusing conclusion, Unsure. Batina is busy at the material supply store on Island getting the 900 pounds of Sac-crete she pre-ordered otherwise she would be here. She tells us this, and we know that she absolutely would have been here be so the app is the way we are going. Throughout the rest of the day, she is walking about the pen, but not in a manner I would categorize as pacing, nor is she showing signs like irritability, kicking at her belly, or any of the other signs, so JoAnn and I pack up and leave her to be alone for the time before we have dinner. Both pre and post dinner checks show the same non labor signs so we close up the pens for the night and await morning.
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