Hélio Castroneves Welcomes Daughter Mikaella

INF

Indy car driver and former Dancing With the Stars champ Hélio Castroneves and girlfriend Adriana Henao are first time parents!

The couple welcomed daughter Mikaella at 4:15 p.m. Monday, December 28th in Atlanta, and apparently dad isn’t the only one with a need for speed. Baby girl — who weighed in at 7 lbs., 3 oz. and measured 19 inches in length — arrived slightly ahead of schedule, more than one week before her January 6th due date.

Hélio, 34, Tweeted the happy news, even sharing a picture of his new family of three.

The pregnancy was announced in October.

Source: Twitter; ET Online

Thanks to CBB readers Paige, Victoria and Jenna.

Comments

Aww, how wonderful! Congrats to Helio on his new daughter! What a pretty name.

- Shannon on December 29th, 2009

I agree that is a pretty name though she wouldn’t be considered premature as full term is between 37-42 weeks and little Mikaella was born at 38 weeks 6 days so she’s perfectly safe I bet she’s a beauty

- Courtney on December 29th, 2009

I LOVE the name as it’s my daughters Congrats to the entire family!!

- canshi on December 29th, 2009

Beautiful name. It’s pronounced Meeka-ella, right? I love that pronunciation.

- Tatyana on December 29th, 2009

I’m not too fond of the name as well as the spelling. I prefer just Kayla. She looks adorable in that picture! I hope all is well for the proud parents.

- Kristin on December 29th, 2009

I’m guessing the name is pronounced Mikayla. Although, I can see where you’re coming from, Tatyana. Mikayla is a very popular name right now, and there are about a million different spellings, so I’m guessing this is their variation on that. And my daughter was born at 38 weeks 6 days, too. Definitely not premature, but blessedly early There’s only so much of the third-trimester a lady can handle!

- mrsh on December 29th, 2009

Congratulations to Helio and Adriana. Life just got a whole lot funner and happier for our fence climber.

- Paige on December 29th, 2009

I was wondering if they pronounce the double l’s, or if it’s like French with “eee” sound, like Mikeea? I personally would pronounce this as Meeka-ella, as another poster noted. A friend had a baby today named “Shyann”…what’s wrong with the traditional Cheyenne?

- Colleen on December 29th, 2009

I think he said it was prounounced “Me-ki-ella”

- Paige on December 30th, 2009

Congrats to Helio and Adriana.

I’m confused Courtney about your premature remark since it never said that in the article. Just that the baby arrived slightly before her due date. There is a difference.

As for the name..it’s not my favorite, but we also have to remember that Helio is from Brazil,not the US and I don’t think his girlfriend is either so the american form of the name probably didn’t suit them and there is nothing wrong with that.

- Carol on December 30th, 2009

Helio says it’s pronounced Me-Kai-Ella.

- JMO on December 30th, 2009