It was four years ago today that Owen Patrick Kieffer entered the world. It's hard to believe that this energetic and carefree kid was a premie. Each night this weekend Amy asked me if I remember what we were doing 4 years ago. On Cinco de Mayo 2001 Amy and I were awakened at 5 in the morning by her water breaking. Blame it on Cinco de Mayo. Blame it on the full moon. Blame it on the freak drop in temperature and the snow that fell the night before. Who knows, it just happened. We rushed to the hospital here in Santa Fe where we were told that they don't handle births before six weeks from a due date. Amy was whisked by ambulance down to Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque where they gave her meds to slow down or stop the contractions. On May 6th we were a bit more relaxed and were starting to wonder how Amy would stay sane if she were forced to stay in the hospital for weeks. On May 7th Amy and I were relaxing and watching Amy's childhood favorites, the Atlanta Braves on T.V. A few friends had stopped by to check in on us. On May 8th the contractions were back and there was no stopping them. At 6:01 p.m. Amy gave birth to Owen in what was a fairly smooth delivery. We were luckier than most. Owen weighed in at a little over 5 lbs. and Amy joked that she was relieved that he didn't go full-term, he would have been huge! Owen spent the next four weeks in the NICU. He had a tube that was fed through his nose to his stomach to feed him and wore an oxygen canulas for nearly his entire stay in the hospital. He was a bit jaundiced and spent some time under the bilirubin lights. During these 4 weeks Amy and I drove back and forth 50 miles from Santa Fe to Albuquerque every day to spend the day with Owen. Finally, Owen was breathing well-enough on his own and Amy and I could take him home. Talk about a nerve racking drive! Amy and I were so nervous having Owen on our own without the medical monitors and the nurses watching Owie around the clock! A few weeks went by, those weeks turned into months, and at some point the whole bizarre experience of Owen's birth sort of faded away and we haven't looked back since. Happy birthday Owen! Check out the pictures from Owen's party.