Jewel’s Heavenly Angel: The Baby We Couldn’t Save

Not every birth at Hartland Oaks has a happy ending. This is one of the stories that still hurts to tell.

On the evening of July 8, 2026, our miniature donkey Jewel went into labor while we were asleep. Our dogs barked and barked that night, trying their best to tell us something was happening outside.

We didn't listen.

The next morning, I got up to leave for physical therapy and saw Jewel standing near the chicken coop.

And she wasn't alone.

There was a tiny baby beside her.

I immediately woke Todd because I wanted us to go meet Jewel's new baby together. From a distance, we could see the little girl rolling around on the ground. At first, we didn't understand what we were seeing.

But the closer we got, the more we realized something was terribly wrong.

When we reached her, we saw that her intestines were outside of her body.

There wasn't time to think.

I scooped that tiny baby into my arms and rushed her to Brazoria Veterinary Clinic, where Dr. Huebner met me and immediately took her to the back.

We hoped there was something—anything—that could be done.

Unfortunately, we were too late.

Her intestines had been exposed for too long and had already become necrotic. Dr. Huebner explained that he believed she had been born with a hernia that ruptured. It was an extremely rare complication—something he had only seen once before.

There was no way to save her.

We made the heartbreaking decision to let her go peacefully.

We gave our little girl a name before saying goodbye:

Jewel's Heavenly Angel

We brought Angel home to Hartland Oaks and buried her in our personal pet cemetery, where she could forever remain part of the farm where she was born.

But our heartbreak wasn't the hardest part to witness.

It was Jewel's.

For days, Jewel cried.

She stayed near the front of the chicken coop where she had delivered her baby, reluctant to leave the place where she had last been with her. She would suddenly run to the other donkeys, searching among them as though perhaps her baby had somehow found her way into the herd.

Then Jewel would realize Angel wasn't there.

And she would run back to the chicken coop.

Watching a mother search for a baby we knew she would never find was devastating.

Eventually, Jewel began roaming the pasture again. She returned to the herd and slowly resumed her normal routines.

But she still seems different.

There are some things animals don't need words to tell us.

Jewel loved her baby. She knew she was gone. And in her own way, she grieved.

Today, we give Jewel a little extra love. We can't replace the baby she lost, and we don't try to. We can simply be there for her and hope that, with time, the empty place in her heart becomes a little less painful.

And maybe someday, when the time is right, Jewel will have the opportunity to become a mama again.

Until then, Jewel's Heavenly Angel will always be part of Hartland Oaks.

She may have only been here for a few hours, but she was loved, she was given a name, and she came home to rest.

Some of the smallest lives leave the biggest holes behind. 🤍