Grammy's Week of service

Since the birth of our little sweet one. Carolyn, whom Caroline is named after, (Not the Tar Heels!!) has been with us. She leaves us in the morning to go back to Kansas. She has done a tremendous job of serving. The best part is she has allowed us to be parents. I have learned so much from her this week!! Here is a list of things that she has done while at the OTB...moving plants in the yard, making our bed every morning, driving allison to dr. appointments, cooked meals breakfast lunch and dinner, trimming plants, watering the yard, laying out pine straw, washing close, making deserts, changing diapers, taking out the trash, cleaning the house, etc...I am sure I left a few things out!!!! Serving is such a huge thing!! As a husband, I am called to serve my wife. I know that when I serve Allison it allows here to take care of Caroline. It also let our relationship grow. Imagine if spouse's spent more time serving each other then worring about there own needs. What would happen? just a thought...anyway here are pictures for those of you that just care about looking at Caroline...Update, she is out of the belli bed!!!! Nursing and sleeping through the night!!! So far so good, i love going home to see my girls!

Jason

Fun in the Tanning bed

9:40am

we at the here at the Hodges house decided to start early on our summer skin. Caroline is a little jaundice, so we have a blue bed that is helping kill the jaundice. Her levels have dropped to 18.3 which is almost where the doctor wants her. so it we might say bye to the tanning bed today!! Caroline is nursing like a champ! She is 7lbs 2oz which is great. She has 9 days to gain 7oz!!! Alli and Caroline are going to the doctor this morning to get a check up. Thank the Lord, for flexable spending accounts!!! She is sleeping through the night. we have to wake her up to feed her. I know that can change but is a blessing right now. Caroline told me this morning that she is excited about tonight's UNC game. It as 10pm, which is about the time she likes to yell for her favorite team. They just haven't played since last Saturday. More updates to come.

Jason

The Greatest Birthday Present Ever

10:33pm

If you didn't know, Alli's birthday was on Monday. So we got to leave the hospital on her birthday!! Normally, birthdays are a huge event at our house. This year was will probably be remembered for a long time. I had made plans to celebrate her last birthday in style but obviously I had to cancel!! Since Carolyn is here Alli and I had a few minutes alone just talk about the weekend, birth, life and Caroline. I apologized to her because i had zeor presents to give her. She look at me and said, "I don't need in any presents, you have given me the greates birthday present ever." OK, tears!!!!!! Then, I began to think that on March 19th is one of the greated days of our family because we spent our first night together at our house as family. One of the things that we prayed for through out the pregnancy is that Caroline would always love coming home. So far we are off to a good start, and that is "the greatest present ever"...ok for those of you who like to look at pictures i got a couple for you. As you can see, Zeek and Zoey love their little sister.

Going home...the journey begins

1:33pm
We are leaving the hospital after 5 longd days. I would not trade them in for anything in the world. I was wondering...is this helpful? Let me know...I will continue to post so everyone can keep up with our family. So this is not the last message, its the beginging of our journey as a family. here are some images of the past few days. Enjoy Caroline's going home outfit!!! Hopoefully, my grammatic skills will increase...once i get some sleep!!!

Thanks for reading about our journey,

JH

Day 2-learning curve

7:19pm

We are still at the hospital. Allison BP is still high. We have spent most of the day working on Caroline and nursing. She is learning!! Thanks for all the visitors!!! We love that people would take the time come and see us!!! We are leaving the hospital in the morning. So its off to the "real world" I hope this has been helpful. I enjoyed keeping people in the loop. I will continue to post, if you want to follow the hodge family.

JH

Caroline's First Game/Visiting tomorrow

11:53pm

We are settelingin for the night. Caroline has just had her first poop! If you are out there counting diaper changes, I am up to 2!! Which is my own personal best. It is great! I am setting a record everytime i change one. We will be at the hospital till monday night or tuesday morning. Caroline is eating the natural way as of right now. So that is great. All in all it has been a great day for the firstimers!!! Here is picture of my girl in her undefeated UNC tarheel outfit. If you forgot, there is a NCAA tourney still going on Caroline and I watch the game tonight. I told her all about the Heels!!! Some of you might be rolling your eyes right now but i gurantee, if you are parent, you have done something similar with your new born. If you would like to visit tommorow, please come by after 2pm. there is strong potential that we may be changing rooms in the morning. So we might be hard to find. Alli is doing well, very tired after 25 hours of labor. She gets all the tubes removed from her body at 5am, so that will be great for her not to be hooked up to something that beeps every ten minutes. Good night all thanks for your prayers and visits. We treasure everyone of them!!!

JH

Caroline and mom

more pictures

Caroline picture

Vistors information

6:22AM we have been up all night so vistors are welcomed after 3pm. If you want to watch the UNC game, it starts at 8:30pm. please wear you Carolina gear for Caroline's first game. Also, please call be fore you come. We are exctied and everyone cried!!!

JH

Caroline is here

Caroline is here. 7lbs. 9oz. 20 1/4 inches. arrival time 5:25am a picture instead of words

pushing started

4:20am

contraction land

3:48am

We are having contract every 90 seconds, so we are so close. Alli is doing an awesome job of getting through her contractions. Dr. Lewis will be back 4am to reasset but all roads point to "pushing" in the 4 o'clock hour. I am so exctied. I start to get tears when i think that Caroline will be here soon. It is so much fun, Thanks for your pryaers. And I will take anyone to dinner if they really read this at 3:48 am

JH

racing up date

1:48 am


Carolyn beat Caroline here....so everyone is now here!!!Now we wait for the little one.



JH

moving along

midnight

6cm...a face. baby is doing great. we are just moving along. dr. lewis just came in. he says, "its just a waiting game". We are hanging out with Dr. lewis talking about NPCC. He is beliver and he is telling stories on how he gets people to come to NPCC. We are getting close and so is allison mama last report south of nashville at 1030pm. It is a race to see if Caroline or Carolyn arrives at Northside first.


JH

No change

8:54pm

Allison just go here next epideral. she is feeling nausia. Still at 3cm. Caroline is doing great

Jh

Update on Alli

7:25pm

Still at 3cm...Allison has been asleep for the past 90 minutes. Dr. Lewis is still saying early in the AM so about the time bball is over, Caroline will arrive

JH

No Visitors Tonight, Please

Jason and Allison have asked for no one to come by tonight...they really need to rest. Thank you for your prayers, concern, and shared excitement. They'll post when they're ready for folks to come by...probably some time tomorrow.

The Water's Broken

At 5p today, the doc broke Allison's water. She's now dialted to 3.8 cm. Thanks in part to the epidural, Allison is feeling great albeit a little tired and will probably take a nap soon. We're looking for Creighton to win out over NV. Dr. Lewis says that if he were a betting man, he thinks Caroline will wait until St. Patrick's Day (tomorrow) to show up. Keep those prayers coming.

Afternoon rest

4:03pm

Alli just got an epideral...she is resting. we are in waiting mode. nothing further to report. If you are coming to visit, give me a call. I am playing good cop, bad cop right now. Thanks for your prayers, she will be here soon. I am probably not going to blog until after we meet with Dr. Lewis around 6pm.

JH

2:09pm

Allison is now on petosin. She is contracting every 2-5 minutes. She is a 1 cm. Her BP is good and we are watching basketball. i am cheering for UNLV, Allison is cheering for Tech. Dr. Lewis says that she is on the upward part of the hill and is starting to roll down the hill.

JH

The process has started

12:49pm

Allison has been given magneszium(???) and fluids to relax the muscles in her back to prevent seizures this is a standard procedured for those with high blood pressure. Her BP has now gone back to normal. I don't know how women deliveredit back in the day. There so many gadgets in this room. we are still on pace for a 3pm inducing with petosin. We are having more contractions and Allison is getting tired. So pray she will get some rest please. Caroline has been called a "happy baby" by the nurses. So all is well. We are considered "in labor"! Pray for Allison parents who are left Kansas an hour ago to come see there grand baby.

The Hodge

Mid Morning Update

10:25am

Dr. Lewis is here. He is the Dr. to celebrities like: Angela N, Jenn. T. They have changed up the drugs to soften the cervix. Allison has starterd to have mild contractions. The petosin will be administered somewhere around 2-3pm because it takes 4 hours for the new drug to take full affect. So depending on how Allison reacts to the petosin depnds on when Caroline arrives...Looks like and i n=might be good on my March 17 protection....Anyway, Caroline's position is perfect, she is face down and ready to come out. She will be here soon, Pray for Alli as she is experinceing something new every second. pray for me to encourage and love. Pray for Caroline to come screemming!!! Well, she is a Hodges that shouldn't be a problem. Again, thanks for loving on our family. We feel very loved on! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!

The Hodge

Rise and Shine

8am

The nurses have come in to wake us. BOO!!! We were sleeping good. We have had great night of sleep. They will start the patosin around noon so it will be awhile before any fun action gets started. Right now its a typical Friday morning for the Hodges minus the Bisciut Barn or Waffle House, food is on its way and I will take the long walk down to Mcdonald's for some good ole fast food breakfast. Not a fan unless it chicken mini's or chicken biscuits. There is a reason you grow out of McDonalds!! Anyway, Matt and Meridith are updating us on the Today show and I am sure we get some highligts of NCAA action!!! I went 14-2 in the ESPN pool, which means today I will do the opposite!! Allison is 13-3, she picked ODU. Thanks for all your prayers, I hope everyone out there is doing well. I will update in sometime around noon after Dr. come in to induce, but if something happens before then I will get the breaking news in ASAP. Adios Amigos! That was for Mike and Mauro!!

4am wake up call

they have moved us to room C4. It much big but not as nice. yet, it is northside so it is still 1st class!!!! Allison is progressing fine. we are still a ways from "active delivery" but things could change in a momments notice. we have been told by the nurses to get some rest, so i am going to try to get some sleep. so i will see you in the morning. everybody is good!!! see you in a few hours with full details.

JH

big News from Northside

Allison has been sleeping for the last 2 hours so i have had to be a little quiet watching the b-ball games. For those of you who care, the Tarheels have advanced to the next round. Ok here is the big thing, the protien was 750ml/gram...So we are going to induce, so they will start the process within the hour. they will put in a cervidil which thins the cervix for about 10 hours which will takes us to the morning...from there they will take us to a labor/delivery room some time in the middle of the night. we should go into active delivery in the morning but sometimes the cervidil puts you in active labor sooner. they will not start delivering the patosin until the cervidil has taken affect. so some time Friday or Jason's prediction early sat morning we will see Caroline Dale Hodges. So far all you later nighters I will be blogging as we move and things progress. when news breakouts, jason will break in. FYI, after we go into active labor you might see a posting till baby. or someone else will need to blog for me.

JH

9:30pm update

Well Duke just lost!...oh yeah the baby and allison. There are 2 paths that we may take tonight but they all involve staying at Northside. First,the urine lab test comes back with 400-500ml/gram of protein in it. the dr. will start the procedure to induce...which mean baby caroline could come naturally or c-section on Friday or however long Allison labors. the second path, the test results come back great and we stay in the hospital over the weekend being monitored. so either way, we are at Northside until the Caroline comes no matter how long that takes. Pray for the baby to come soon because we are running out of college b-ball games to watch rather quickly. Please gives me a ring before coming down. the dr. has asked for allsion to get as much rest as possible. i don't want to have be the bad guy and turn you away. Alli and Caroline are doing great!!! We are just settling to watch our beloved Tarheels play. I will update everyone as soon as we know which path we will take, should be around midnight. So good night to all the non-march madness fans, and for those of you staying up I will be back soon.

After Dinner Update

6:37pm 3/15/07

We just met with Dr. Fang. He is Allison's specialist. He informed us that they are looking for 500ml grams of protien in her urine in order to induce for delivery. Allison is still spiking in her BP, she has a really bad head ache and she starting to have mild contractions. We will be done with the 24 hour urine around 9:30pm, then the results will take 2-4 hours to get back from the lab. So its look like we are in for another night at the ritz northside. Good news is that Caroline is doing great. Dr. Fang says that at 37 weeks is considered full term. They are cautious about delivering becaue there is a tendency in diabetic babies for their lungs not to be fully deleveloped at 37 weeks, but if Alli is howing signs of Pre-eclamsea(sp???)...Anyway, dad is doing great! thanks to darcy and tina for chic-fil-a and snacks and to the jon and shannon for taking care of the dogs and casa de Hodges...Keep the prayers coming, allison is getting a little anxious and tired.

Jason

GO HEELS!!!!!

Update on Alli

4:30pm

We are waiting to see dr. Taylor. We will talk to her, she will give a us better picture of what will happen in the next few hours.
see y'all in an hour.

JH

Nap time

3:25pm mom is sleeping nothing new to report.

Caroline's arrival

thursday 2:23pm

hey everybody
this is what we know as of 2:23pm. Allison Bp is fluctuating from the 140-160/ 90. Caroline is doing great. We met with DR. Taylor at noon. She informed us we will be here at least till Friday morning. She is going to go over her charts and there is a possibilty we could induce today. Baby and mom are fine. Dad is watching NCAA tourney hoping his bracket doesn't bust. The tarheels tip at 10pm and Kansas play tomorrow. We have invited Dave and Carolyn to come over from Kansas because we have inferred from out conversation with the doctor that Caroline will be here some time this week. So continue to pray for us and Caroline that the time will go by soon because being in a hospital when you are healthy is a frustrating thing.