6 years ago...

It was 10:12 PM and I was at work doing a precious newborn baby's footprints when I felt a huge "pop/pain" sensation and thought "uh, oh". I had to excuse myself from the delivery room and took off to the employee bathroom with Nitrazine paper in hand.

But I was only 34 weeks and 5 days pregnant...could this really be my water breaking?

The nitrazine paper said YES. Then about a half hour later, my contractions started in full force and my water was GUSHING out like the Niagara falls. Tim hadn't even made it to the hospital yet, but I was in full blown labor!

Then at 12:12 AM on September 27th, my precious baby Jacob Thomas Valiant was born-I was still on the clock too;-).

It was a rocky start for him as his lungs were not mature and he stayed in the NICU for 12 long days...those were dark times for me. I couldn't have imagined that I'd tread even deeper, darker waters with future child bearing (Thank you very much Owen).

Look how far you've come my special boy, who at the ripe age of 5 3/4 decided he wanted his name to be "JAKE".

We love you so much Jakey! Hope you have a very special 6th birthday. I know I likely will not forget it as I've never had 17 neighbor kids (including my 3) over to entertain for a birthday party all while in misery myself of suffering greatly from probable strep throat-results not in yet, thank you slow Urgent Care (don't worry parents of the world-I've been on antibiotics now for over 24 hours and will be on them even longer (almost 48 hours)when the party actually occurs;-)

I have all kinds of fun things planned like a nature scavenger hunt, creature themed charades, cotton ball/plastic spoon relays, musical chairs-plus much more. And we are having "make your own" sundaes and birthday cupcakes. It's sure to add to my gray hair total but all very worth it as I believe Jake will remember this one;-)

Who wouldn't want to search for a dead bug on a scavenger hunt? Fun times!

Oh, in case you were wondering, Jake is still loving his $200 gas meter!