On Friday, April 10, around 3:30 AM, I started having contractions. I had been having a few painless contractions the day before, but these were different - and had a little kick to them. They were about 10 minutes apart, but the pain was still very mild, so I tried to nap. Ultimately, I ended up eating, watching the movie "Hoosiers", and making sure everything was together in case this was the real deal. Matt and I decided he should go check in at work (he goes in at 6 AM), let them know what was going on, and then he would come home assuming contractions were continuing... which they did. Around 9:30 AM, with contractions now 5 minutes apart and the pain becoming much less tolerable, we decided to head to the hospital! After checking in and getting examined, I was 6 cm dilated and given the option of an epidural. I declined and headed to the shower, where I pretty much stayed for the next 3 hours. There were definitely moments where I almost gave in and had that epidural, but the shower saved me. The warm water helped sooth the pain and I was able to ride the pain until my water broke, you guessed it, in the shower. After that everything is a blur. I was basically hauled out of the shower by Matt and the nurse, told I was 10 cm and could push, and Micah Matthew Rodgers arrived about 15 minutes later, at 1:05 PM. I think I only popped every blood vessel in my face and neck to get him out that quickly!
He was perfect, 10 fingers and toes, a head of brown hair, and wide open eyes ready to take everything in. Matt announced "It's a boy!", cut the umbilical cord, and I got to hold our beautiful baby. He weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz., was 20 inches long, and got Apgar scores of 9 and 9. I handed him over to Matt while I got a few stitches and my placenta removed, and then we got to go to the Mom and Baby floor for the remainder of our stay.
We are loving having little Micah in the family and are so thankful to all the family and friends who have given us well wishes and helped us out this week. For those that haven't met him yet, we can't wait to show him off - he's pretty awesome!