She was giving birth to her son when planes hit the Twin Towers: "Life was given as well as taken that day"

MILWAUKEE -- Many people can tell you where they were when they saw or heard about the 9/11 terror attacks, and that's certainly the case for Rebecca Gill! She was giving birth when the first tower was struck, and she watched the plane hit the second tower.

"Life was given as well as taken that day," Gill said.

The 16th anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks was Gill's son, Ian's 16th birthday. It was 8:00 a.m. on September 11th, 2001 when Gill gave birth after a C-section.

Rebecca Gill

"An OR tech stepped out of the room and came back and told me 'you're never going to forget your son's birthday.' I asked 'well, why? Of course I won't.' But he decided to tell me 'I think our country's under attack,'" Gill said.

Gill had mixed emotions, as she wondered what happened and felt concerned about her newborn son, who required some medical attention. Against the nurse's advice, she turned on the TV and saw the second plane hit the tower live.

"Shortly after that the first tower fell, and that was shocking. You really couldn't grasp what that meant. All those people that just crumbled down with the towers," Gill said.

She said finally being able to hold her son was comforting. In the birth announcement, the family included: "We have renewed hope that the light and love of the Lord will once again grace this world through this little life that was given when so many were being taken."

Ian Gill

FOX6 News caught up with Ian on his 16th birthday at his high school. He said throughout the years, people have reacted on his birthday.

"'Is it really?' 'Yeah it is,' and like, 'wow, that 's surprising,' and some are like, 'that kinda sucks.' They see it in a bad way because they think I'm going to be all depressed," Ian said.

So how does he approach the day?

"I was like yeah, happy birthday to me, but also like, these people died 16 years ago, so I still remember them," Ian said.

Rebecca Gill also shared with FOX6 that Ian's name means "gracious gift of God."