4 years ago tonight

I can say that I know with absolute certainty what I was doing four years ago tonight. I was 40 weeks pregnant with my sixth child. It was my due date and I didn't feel like much was going on. In fact, I was just getting ready to go to bed when I decided to get in the hot tub for a few minutes to relax before bed. Mike was in the next room, talking to my sister on the phone, and suddenly something happened that let me know that maybe I wouldn't be going to bed any time soon. I certainly wouldn't have believed with any level of confidence that I would be holding my baby 45 minutes later, but that's exactly what happened!

About a half hour later, I asked my oldest daughter to call the midwife and let her know that I was in labor. Knowing that she and her assistant were a half hour away, and they would need to get their supplies and things loaded up before taking off, I wanted to give them plenty of time to get here. Ten minutes later, I was pushing, and in five minutes, I was holding my precious little one! Tori called the midwife back and said, "He's here!" She had just gotten her car loaded and was ready to leave.

So the midwives arrived about 45 minutes after Jeffrey did. They checked us both out and cleaned up and got us into bed. Mike and I lay awake long into the night, with our precious gift between us talking about what his name should be. By about 3 am, we had decided on Jeffrey, meaning "Peaceful", because that's the way his birth was. His middle name is David, which means "beloved".

To this day, our Jeffrey is calm and peaceful - laid back and happy. And now he's four. He spent the day playing with his new Mario game on his brother's Nintendo DS. He wanted hamburgers and french fries for lunch, and right now, just as he was four years ago, he's peacefully sleeping. I love that little guy. This morning, he came in our room and climbed in the bed. I told him, "Happy Birthday" and asked him if I could still call him "Sweet Baby Son", even though he's four now. He said I could. I asked if I could call him that when he's twenty. He said, "yes". "How about forty?" "You can call me that forever, Mom." And I probably will. :)