My First Bath

Michaiah after her first sponge bath enjoying some skin to skin time with her daddy. Three days old and she's already trying to hold her head up.

Michaiah Eliana Stephens - Born 9/22/10

After 9 months of waiting for our daughter to arrive, Michaiah finally made her appearance on Wednesday, September 22 at 8:52pm. I went in for my weekly appointment that same day around 11:30am and found out that I was 3 centimeters. However, while I was being examined, my water broke!

Shortly after my appointment, about 1pm, I was admitted to labor and delivery and there we began our journey. The rooms at the hospital were very nice and all of the nurses were great. Michael and I watched a movie, took a nap, ate some sushi and walked laps around the hospital to get things moving. 

We continued to do laps around the hospital but these laps kept getting shorter and shorter as the contractions were becoming more and more frequent and stronger and stronger. It wasn’t too much longer until I was 6 centimeters and then just when I thought I couldn’t take any more pain and wanted an epidural the nurse checked me again and I was at 9 ½ centimeters! The only thing left to do really was to push. After about 10-15 minutes of pushing, and about 8 hours after my water breaking, our little blessing, Michaiah Eliana, was born.

Michaiah Eliana Stephens was born at 8:52pm weighing 7lbs 10oz and 20½ inches long. She has bluish gray eyes and what looked like black curly hair is now straight brown hair. She couldn’t be more perfect in our eyes. She’s truly a gift from God and we feel truly blessed to have her in our lives.

38 Weeks...

Michaiah has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which I'll soon be able to test when I hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.


The last bits of vernix caseosa (the white goo keeping baby's skin moist) and lanugo (downy hair) are slowly shedding into m amniotic fluid. Michaiah's head is about the same circumference as her abdomen, and her head could be covered in an inch or so of hair.

I finished my last week of work...yippie!! I am so excited to be done and to just put up my feet and relax until she is ready to make her appearance. We still have to get the car seat installed (Monday), so hopefully she'll wait until we get that done before she decides to come. Everything is ready and we are just anxiously awaiting her arrival.

My last doctor visit revealed that I am 1.5 centimeters dilated and that her head is down right where it should be. So again, we are just waiting.....

Michael's First 5K Race

So Michael raced in his first 5K races a few weekends ago and did pretty good. He finished 7th in his age group (would have been better had he not had to stop behind a tree to relieve himself during the race). He plans to keep running and entering more and more races. Hopefully after the baby, we'll be able to do a few races together and then hopefully a triathlon! We'll see.

He raced with one of his friends, Will, from the boxing gym who ended up finishing 7th overall out of about 600 people and 1st in his age group. Michael told me that Will could probably win it and sure enough he almost did.

Good job guys!!

37 Weeks...

Another week closer. My last doctor visit revealed that Michaiah's head is really low and that I am dilated one centimeter. I know...I have a lot more centimeters to go but hey it's a start.

Michaiah's now the size of a watermelon!
I am full-term (yay!) even though my due date is three weeks away.  If I were to go into labor now, her lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb. (Some babies need a bit more time, though). She is also brushing up on skills for the outside world: blinking, sucking, inhaling, exhaling, and gripping (it's getting strong!).
 
She weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). She's also acquiring important antibodies from me that will protect her from life-threatening diseases, when she enters into this world. She receives 'natural immunization' for another six months after her birth with breast milk.

36 Weeks....

Michaiah is now the size of a honeydew!!

Her skin is getting smooth and soft, her gums are rigid, her liver and kidneys are in working order, and her circulation and immune system are basically good to go. Her lungs are the only organs that still need to fully mature, but every day she gets a little closer to breathing on her own. Her lungs will continue to mature after she is born.

She is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. She swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions (nice), resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.


She's already descending into my pelvis, putting the brunt of her weight on my hips and pelvis, making them pretty sore. And don't forget those ever-loosening ligaments puttting strain on the 'ol pelvic area as well.

We just can't wait to meet our little girl!