Happy 8th Birthday Mica!

Dear Mica,

Eight years ago you were born. It seems like such a long time ago in some ways; in others it was just yesterday.



I never had morning sickness with you. 7 pm was my bedtime the whole first trimester. I felt like fainting often to. One day I fainted in the shower. It scared me so much!

My doctor didn't know if I'd be able to deliver you the normal way. She talked about that throughout my pregnancy. Towards the end you just happened to be in the breech position. I tried everything to get you to move myself. I laid on an ironing board upside down. One end was up on the bed, the other on the floor, against the wall. That wasn't easy getting on that, being really pregnant! Off I went to get a CT scan to see if it was even possible to deliver you the normal way. It was, so I was scheduled for an external cephalic version. I didn't know what that was. It's where my doctor hooked me up to see if you became stressed out, while she tried to turn you from the outside. If you were to turn, they were going to induce me to make sure you wouldn't turn back. I was all ready to have you. My bags were packed. Cookies were made for the nurses. Everything was ready to go.

I went in not thinking it would be as painful as everyone had told me. Boy was I wrong! My doctor was pushing for you to turn. Another doctor joined in pushing down as hard as she could. You would turn just a little bit, and pop back. Daddy said my eyes looked like I was horrified. I was low on fluid, and you were a long baby.

I went home. At my next appointment I was sent in the following day to have an emergency c-section because my fluid was so low. I swear it all went into my legs and feet!

You were born mooning the doctors. Yep your butt was right in their face. It was frightening because you didn't cry. You were asleep. Then I realized you had a funky shaped tongue. Later we found out that you had a cyst under you tongue. They lanced the cyst. Then cut the flap under your tongue because you were tongue tied. So many appointments followed because of that cyst you had. Doctors didn't know if you'd be able to eat, or talk. You most certainly do both just fine! Doctors wanted to make sure you didn't have a cyst in your brain, or inside your tongue as well. You had to get a head/brain MRI at 2 months old. I cried because I couldn't feed you for a long time before the MRI.

The MRI images made you looks so creepy. We could see teeth that hadn't even come out yet. No cyst!

At 7 months we could have easily lost you! Grandpa Spiehs noticed that your neck was getting bigger and bigger in his care. I hadn't noticed anything when I dropped you off. I really think swelling from a staph infection happened so quickly! The problem was, was that doctors didn't know it was a staph infection. They gave you antibiotics hoping it would make that neck swelling go down! Your fever and white blood cell count was up! The picture below is one of your happy pictures. Most of the days in the hospital were not so fun.


You couldn't turn you head much at all. That made breast feeding oh so interesting. An Infectious Disease Doctor probed us with crazy questions. To this day we don't know why, or how you got it. My best guess is that you got it from an ear infection you had on the same side. It was a week in the hospital. One more week at home on IV antibiotics. They could not get a pick line through, so you just had the IV in the arm. Giving you IV antibiotics scared me 1/2 to death! Then you got the Rotavirus, had to go back into the hospital. You were throwing up left and right. I thought it was from the antibiotics. I didn't know you were fighting yet another infection! Back home we went again. Then you broke out in hives all over from the Penicillin. Another call went into the doctor for that.

You never crawled right. You sort of drug one leg under you. When it was time for you to walk, you limped. It was just because you didn't exercise that one leg. That lead to more doctor visits.

After all that major crazy stuff, you've been healthy for the most part! A total drastic change from your babyhood!

What are you like now?

You love to read! Magic Tree House books are your favorite! You also love Legos. You still haven't grown out of wanting to dress up. An acting camp over the summer was your cup of tea. The whole family likes to watch Little House on the Prairie. You have swimming lessons and Jiu-Jitsu both once a week.

Other things about you:

I ran into your name a few times. One night I fell asleep on the couch and woke up to this on the TV:

Found here

Turns out there's a famous ski resort in Heli Canada named Mica. Kind of odd to wake up with that on the TV!

Then I was thumbing through a graphic design book and saw this:

Found here

It stands for Maryland Institute College of Art. Perfect! I do think it's odd that Institute and College are in the same name of a school. It's still cool that M | I | C / A is an art school!

Mica is a shiny silicate mineral with a layered structure, found as minute scales in granite and other rocks, or as crystals. It is used as a thermal or electrical insulator.

You are very bright in school. You can't wait to grow up. Your brother is the opposite. I want to tell you to slow down, and your brother to hurry up. I just want a middle ground.

Happy 8th birthday Mica!