20 weeks...Baby kicks and 1/2 WAY there!!!!

OMGOODNESSS sooo somehow here we are at 20 weeks...half way done/there!!!! i can't even believe it!! only 3 days until we find out what the sex is...can't even wait for that moment!! good thing this week is busy (helps keep my mind off of it)
i feel fantastic :) i have energy to workout and work and be a "normal" human again!! its truly wonderful :) i'm starting to get more of a belly...Dave and I think its deff obvious, even though everyone still says they can't see it...hehe however, i'm not sure i want the opposite: people telling me how huge i am...HAHA... i'm sure that will come, so for now, i'll enjoy the: "wow... i didn't even know you were pregnant" comments.
WE FEEL THE BABY KICKING!! i have been feeling little flutters and such for a couple weeks now, but nothing that was obviously the baby...until last Weds night i was laying in bed, talking to Dave on the phone (he's at OSU for 2 weeks for work) and WHOAAAAA there's an alien in my belly trying to get out!!! soooo amazing, scary, freaky, sweet, angelic...so many words to describe the feeling haha... so i wasn't sure if it felt huge b/c i could feel it inside or if you could really feel it from the outside... so baby kept kicking all night... it was kind of freaking me out b/c it was wild!! Dave was, of course, sad because he wasn't there to feel it :(
i went to work on Friday and was on bypass and felt it again!!! so my student, Courtney tried to feel it and screamed!!! haha she was like whoa-- that was a kick!! its very distinguishable...so confirmed... baby kicks CAN be felt from the outside....

this past weekend i went to Ohio to see Dave and family (we went to the Nutcracker, shopping and all that fun stuff) and Dave got to feel it both nights!! so amazing and truly makes it real for me now!! as i sit here typing... baby is kicking...violently!! i can only imagine how its goign to feel when it gets bigger!!! wow!

we went to babies r us and added more items to our registry :) a super sweet guy helped us look at strollers, etc... and i think we found some great stuff!! super excited about it all :) just can't wait to find out the sex to begin all the real planning :) we have all the border down for the nursery and the room is all cleaned out :)

can't wait for Thursday!!! keep the votes and comments coming...we love them :)

Dave, Ashley, Bella and Baby Hodge

Only 1 week left

Only 1 week left till we get to find out the gender! Everyone we talk to thinks it is going to be a boy...not a single person has guessed a girl. So it will be interesting to see! I added a new poll to the blog...vote for the gender!

Week 17 begins

So Week 17 begins.... sadly, Thanksgiving is over and we didn't get to spend it with family this year ( i was on call) BUT a sweet lil boy got a heart transplant and another chance at life instead...so we can all be thankful on his behalf :) We just put our tree up!!! yayayayay!! i'm SOOO excited for Christmas!! We almost have all our shopping done too :)

we also got all the border down in the babies room, so its all ready to paint...PINK OR BLUE!!!! we will find out in a couple weeks!! so stay tuned for the announcement!!!

My mom, one of my BFF's and her mom all went to NYC this past weekend and had a blast! however, i have since gotten a sinus infection that i'm trying to fight without antibiotics, so please say a prayer for me- that i can fight it off...

we go to the DR on monday for a check-up...we'll post more then, until then: below are more updated pics :)

Love,

Dave Ashley Bella & Baby Hodge

this is me at 16 weeks (4 mos) in NYC with my mom in our hotel room

this is 14 weeks belly...gettin bigger!!

Bella wanted to join in the pic ;)

and this is actually 15 weeks when we were tearing down border in the baby's room :)

Week 14 (11/10/2009)

so... we went to another appointment with our midwife on Monday AND i lost 2.5 lbs...of course have gotten lots of questions about it... YES i'm eating a ton and NO i'm not working out too hard-- hehe... just b/c i know one of you will ask those very same questions :) BUT i told her i have not been ill... i think i'm losing all my muscle that i USED to have and that's really the reason ;) this is BABY DIESEL we're talking about here...HAHA
the heartrate was 150bpm, the baby was moving around like a jumping bean (as usual)....and everything else was great INCLUDING all the chromosome tests and NT fluid...YAY!!
we started to tear down the wallpaper in the baby's room, but its stuck so i need suggestions on the best way to get wallpaper border down...HELP!

from Daddy:
while i know these cravings will soon come... i have one myself- Haggen Das sorbet (peach and mango are the best). you should go straight to the grocery store NOW and get some

ive also now forcing Ashley to chug down protein shakes before bed


from Roomba:
beepboop beep boop the dog and i have come to an agreement...she will not shed as much so i may go on an extended vacation (until baby comes). i'm done sweeping up "tumble bellas" that roll across the floor. i wish mom would empty me more...dad's the only one who takes care of me...beeeppp (redocking sound)

My thoughts on the ultrasound

So I was very sad to miss the ultrasound but very excited once I saw the pictures! For a while it is one of those things where you are "ya I am having a baby" and your excited. But as it goes it gets more exciting and more real per say. After hearing the heartbeat I was super excited. Now after seeing the ultrasound pictures I was extremely excited. I was on the road for work at the time. After seeing those pictures I got a an extra boost...an extra jump in my step. It's amazing that we can create a baby! The pictures are awesome! Everyone thinks it's a He, myself included, but maybe since everyone thinks that it will be a She. Either way I am excited. Not much longer until we foind out!!

week 13 ULTRASOUND pics!!!

Hello,

So things have been very busy for the Hodge Family...Dave was at Ohio State for work last week, I flew in to Dallas for the AmSECT pediatric conference on Tuesday...Dave met me in Dallas on Friday, we both flew back to Charleston Sunday and Dave left again today for St Louis for a week again!! euughh... good thing i'm over the first trimester and have my energy back or i'd be draggin! hehe

I went today for my 1st ultrasound...so sad Dave couldn't be there with me, but it was all good :) it was for the 1st trimester screening for downs and other chromosomal abnormalities...everything measured up perfect :) THANK YOU JESUS!!

so below are the pictures of the ultrasound... i'm measuring ahead of my due date a little... i'm calculated at 13 weeks 4 days and the baby is measuring 14 weeks 1 day (i know, very insignificant!) and the little one was jumping around like a JUMPING BEAN! it would squat and jump so hard it would bounce its head off the other side!! so funny! and it kept doing it- she said..."well i can't get any measurments with it jumping like that, i guess we'll just wait and watch the show!" HAHA so its already an active one ...like its big sis, Bella ;) (as shes staring at me now whining for me to throw the ball )

i still haven't changed much body wise except i look bloated (like i spent the night in a dunkin donuts and ate everything in the store) HAHA we'll post pics this weekend when Dave gets home

other than that..all is well. we miss and love you all!!

Ashley, Dave, Bella & Baby Hodge

this was to measure the HR which was 147 bpm...you know what that means!

this is of its cute lil face...you can see its mouth is open... it kept opening and closing its mouth like a fish---she said its pry swallowing, which is a good sign that its a well developed function this early... i love its cute lil nose!!

this is when they were measuring its crown to rump size, but since it was doing crunches it wasn't very accurate- there's another one later where he/she uncurled its neck

you can see its legs at the bottom too

i call this one the alien one... looks kinda alienish but you can see both its arms and she counted 10 fingers :)

this is the other crown to rump measurement where it was uncurled and was measuring 14 weeks 1 day and again its legs were squatting about to take a huge JUMP again!! hehe
i love this one too... close up of the head and you can see the right hand in the background-- it was WAVING!! opening and closing its hand at the camera...saying"Hello everyone!"

this is about to take a jump again- you can see the squatted legs about to pounce! haha

this is the arm-- hand on the hip (attitude already) haha...but amazing to see the bones already!

this is the legs again...crossed at the bottom left and the head at the right

after it kept jumping it would spin around on its side so you could see its back... i think its the gymnast in me already working on fulls ;) haha but you can really see the spine again the head is at the right

this is looking up at the legs

she also did some 3D images for me!! this is the head at the top and the left arm across its torso and the legs below

this is another 3D with its left arm across its eyes and you can see its sitting indian style with its legs crossed...Dave and i both think its a boy even though you can't really tell :)

and the last one... with its arms in a praying position over its nose (head at top) and its lil knees tucked in... finally done jumping!! hehe

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Baby heartbeat

Link to download

Baby heartbeat

Download Ashley Hodge - Baby Heartbeat

Week 11 - HEARTBEAT

Hello,

i've been feeling 100x better the last 2 weeks...less sleepy, more energy, feeling like working out again...until Friday... i had to get up to go into the OR early... got up and started feeling nauseated immediately, when i told myself..."okay Ashley, usually you're asleep still and not eating and i'm not hungry or nauseated then... so tough it out, its just a mind game" so i precede to get into the shower and get ready- feeling more terrible as the minutes pass, still telling myself to "man up", "be tough" " you can handle this" and yep... blahhhhh right in the toilet!!! (sorry if that grossed anyone out)...I was so determined to get through this whole pregnancy without actually throwing up... welp i lost that battle and yeah, i thought it was just a mind game, i guess not! haha so i felt better after that episode and went to eat some breakfast and off to the OR for a fun filled day! haha but since then i've been feeling pretty good, slowly getting my appetite back and ability to eat meat again! haha
AND my amazing mother re modeled, re decorated and re organized our WHOLE HOUSE!!! such a blessing b/c with these last couple weeks of me being tired and with our MBA classes, we've been getting behind on household stuff... soo below you'll see the "blue" room in our house that we both HATED, just haven't gotten around to fixing it until this weekend... she painted the room for us and bought us the china chest/wine rack to match the table!! thanks mom :) and we got a table!! FINALLY!! haha



we will try to post the heartbeat later tonight or tomorrow, so check back to hear it :) !!!!



Love,

Dave, Ashley, Bella and Baby Hodge



This is Nikki, Brandon and I at the Rooftop Bar downtown Charleston, waiting on Dave to get off work on friday...it was beautiful (90 degrees and sunny)
nikki and i at the comedy club in Charleston...improv...so much fun!

Dave and Brandon making us girls breakfast...such good guys! and it was SOOOO good!!

oh yes, my fav nike shirt EVER! and i have a twin!! haha

Nikki and I at King St grill watching the Buckeyes SMASH Wisconsin

Monday Oct 12th our appt with the midwife and luckily my mom was in town to go with us :)

they were like an hour behind!!! we were getting so bored in the room! haha

my beautiful mother patiently waiting with us to hear the heartbeat...even though she's HOPING its a fast one! ;)

that week we decided it was time for the hideous BLUE to go away!! yippie!!

Bella wanted to help out too ;) HEHE

YAY we finally got a china chest (whatever the fancy name for them is...haha) THANKS MOM!! we love it!!

TADA here it is!! (minus the legs that Dave had to put on later :)

Bella took a little time out in the backyard with her new toy :) isn't she ADORABLE?!! i could just squeeze her!

the finished product (minus the trim...we're waiting on De to be the hero with her fabulous painting skills) and the thing laying on the table is going on the wall

AND we finally got our wedding pic framed...its on the floor on the left- we're going to hand it over the china thingy :)

AND lastly, the belly pic... so there's DEFF a baby bump starting!!! somedays it feels big and i feel huge, then sometimes it goes away and my stomach looks normal again... so who knows :) BUT this pic deff shows it! week 11.5

AND disregard my face/hair... i was in the OR ALLLLL DAY long and was exhausted haha (excuses excuses, i know)

Week 10-- Baby's first TRIP to DISNEY WORLD!!!

So we are just starting week 10 and Dave surprises me (packs my bags, has everything loaded and ready when i got home from work) and off we went in the car... to WALT DISNEY WORLD!! we've been wanting to go here for a couple years now and just haven't made the trip! so in place of our 3 yr anniversary, he surprised me!! We went to Universal on Day 1 (Friday), Dinner At Emerils restaurant Friday night, Walt Disney on Sat and to the OSU alumni association in FL on Sat night to watch the Buckeyes kill Indiana...woowhoo Go BUCKS!
Below are the pics...AND my other HUGE surprise!
i have been feeling a little rough the last few weeks (week 7 & 8) nauseated and mostly i just can't eat anything, everything sounds gross! and i've been more tired than i've EVER been in my life! i sleep like 10-12 hour nights and then take 3 hours naps on the weekends!! its insane!! so we were a little worried about the trip, hoping i would feel okay...AND i did!! i felt great! and wasn't nauseated at all ( i usually only get nauseated when i don't eat OR when i'm at work and have to get up early and don't get to eat lunch until late,,,those are usually the worst days) so thankfully Dave has been amazing at helping me get through this food aversion and sleepy phase! haha... hope everyone is doing well! we miss u all!!

Dave n i at Epcot

they had international food and wine tasting at Epcot (no wine for this girl)

Headed into Universal on Day 1= ME super excited!

this just might be my fav pic of the WHOLE trip! haha

The Hodge family's most treasured family... the simpsons

We went to eat at EMERIL'S restaurant at Universal, which was across the street from our hotel. Dave did all the research and found the restaurant... this is us at the entrance:

HE TOTALLY surprised me and gave me another band that PERFECTLY matches my engagement ring/wedding band set! he special ordered it and everything!! i didn't even have to ask for it!! isn't he an amazing hubby?

soo this pic doesn't EVEN do it justice--- none, but its a pic! ha

this is us after dinner at Emerils

Dave lookin sexy after dinner by the universal ball

YAY omgosh i'm still in shock!! i felt like i was getting engaged again :)

below are our tickets to Universal the first day and we went to Disney world the second day

okay, okay so everyone's been asking for bellys pics... here's the one from Week 9.. some bloating (okay so i feel hugely bloated, but i know its going to get worse! hehe)
AND don't mind my saggy gross lounge pants...we were cleaning the house that day and decided it was a good time for a pic... so just ignore those...ekk! haha

Starting week 9

So we (or Ashley I should say) are approaching the end of the first trimester. It's been a rough few weeks since Ashley hasn't been feeling 100% and I have been traveling recently. She is starting to crave cetain foods and reject others. In addition to being weirded out by certain foods, she is also hungry all the time (which makes sense to me). This can be tough with her job. I wish I could be helpful while I am at work but it sucks cuz I really can't get to her while she is in the OR. I have been trying to be as helpful as possible and getting her certain foods that she likes. For example, she recently got on a Peanut Butter Capt. Crunch kick. The box was gone in 3 days so I hit the store and low and behold they had a buy 1 get 1 free of the family size. Boo Ya! I did have to explain to the cashier my absurd cereal purchase at 10pm at night but once he heard the reason he understood.

We have also been going back n forth on finding out the gender. As some may know, she wants to wait, but I want to find out. Now, before you jump on me, since a lot of people think it is exciting to wait... read my idea. Since we are scheduled to be able to find out right before Christmas, what if the doctor wraps the piece of paper with the gender on it in a box that we open with our family at Christmas! Doesn't that sound exciting? I think it will be just as fun and then we can buy gender specific stuff.

On a last note from me, the baby has helped in our car buying decisions. Since the eclipse (I think it's still one of those, not sure since its so faded...har har) is not a good baby transporting automobile, we are being forced into getting a new car, and soon. We are looking at Accords, Altimas and Fusions...any thoughts?

-Dave "Daddy to Be"

From Bella:
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr" "Squeak squeak"
So mom has been acting a little strange lately. She keeps wanting to snuggle me more often than not. She also has been waking up at odd hours and eating odd food at these times. Just the other day I got some popcorn at about 1am. Dad has been gone recently and I have been sad. He is my play buddy...although he always wins our boxing matches...someday I'll win! Well, that's all from me....my ball is rolling away...GOTTA GO GET IT!!!!

Sharing the BIG NEWS with our Parents 9/6/2009

We went home to Ohio for Labor Day weekend. our OSU alumni tickets were for that weekend...OSU Vs Navy. We found out i was pregnant on 8/20/2009 and decided we would wait until the weekend we went back to Ohio to surprise our families...in person. we had dinner at PF Changs...Dave n I's FAV! We invited Dave's aunt Pam and uncle Larry, his grandmother, Mootzie, his other aunt, Diane and his and my parents. we thought everyone would catch on since EVERYONE was coming, but thankfully, they didn't :) Pam and Larry were late to dinner, so we decided to wait until after dinner to make the announcement. we had these two pictures in an envelope and handed them out to everyone and said "we have an early Christmas present for everyone, but you all have to open it together" in the envelope were these two pictures:




And PAM was the winner...they were all looking at them confused and then Pam screams, "A BUN IN THE OVEN?!!!"
so the first pic, which on one really got, was supposed to be "Barefoot and Pregnant" HAHA
so then we gave everyone their gifts... we got our parents T-shirts (shown below) and Diane a mouse pad that says "Soon to be known as Great Aunt" and Pam a coffee mug that says the same. lastly, we got the mothers new pandora charms (the baby carriage). Everyone was very excited! We then called Amanda and Tara on the phone :) (their gifts went in the mail)
thanks everyone for your support and enthusiasm! we're very excited for this little one :)
Dave, Ashley, Bella and Baby Hodge




this is the first pregnancy test i took -- we took it at 6am-- we were both so sleepy and i thought for sure it wasn't going to be positive, because i didn't have any of the "right" signs or symptoms...HAHA were we wrong!

The proud Daddy, Below

The BIG guns ;) hehe... only 1 month of "trying" he MUST be a beast! haha

sharing the news with Bella, our baby

we thought it was going to take a while...yep 1 month later...

yes, Dave thinks he's the MAN of all men hehe

so about a week after we found out- i still wasn't feeling any different and i kept reading everywhere that i should be feeling realyl sick...etc... so i kept questioning it (even after Michele and Kelli reassured me that pregnancy tests weren't ever FALSE POSITIVES) and ended up taking another test, just to make sure before i went to the DR...yep, SURE IS POSITIVE :)

On Sunday, my mom came and picked us up from the Kaleta's house (PARDI got married!!!, she's a Kaleta now :) ) we went shopping and she kept trying to buy me all these clothes and jackets. then i realized omgosh i will be big in the winter, i can't let her buy me a new coat!! haha so then i had to pretend i didn't like anything! it was KILLING me not to tell her all day!! so here a pic of me n mom before she knew!!

Scott just had knee surgery, so he wasn't able to hobble around

this is Jeannine and Denny when we handed out the pics in the envelopes-- trying to figure it out

Below is Larry, Pam (trying to figure out the pics) and Mootzie

Here's Denny with his "Great Dad's get promoted to Grandpa" T-shirt

Pam with her "soon to be known as Great Aunt" mug :)


my mom with her "i'm smiling because i'm going to be a grandma" T-shirt

and Mootzie...was crying she was so excited :)

with her "grandma to-bee t shirt"

Jeannine with her matching "i'm going to be a grandma" T-shirt

and Pam's mouse pad :)

the two moms after they figured it out!! so excited!! or should i call them "GRANDMAS" ehehe

opening their new Pandora charms

Dave calling Amanda and Tara to share the news

and the whole gang outside PF Changs

i love this pic :)









our wrapped up "surprises" in the mail to Auntie Tara and Amanda (Uncle Rick and Uncle Mike too)

The frames we made for our parents and for Tara and Amanda

Kelli (my fabulous and talented graphic design/artsy friends in Chas) made the inserts for us that say "Save the Date, picture to come May 2010"

thanks, KELLI!! they are adorable!!

and one last funny shot!! poor Mootzie was confused and just laughing up a storm :)

we went home and announced it to Scott and the next day had a family picnic and my aunt and uncles house and my mom and Scott wore their t-shirts to see if anyone noticed

it took FOREVER and finally my uncle read it!haha

we gave the tshirt and pics to my grandma there as well :)

we love you all!! and hope you will follow along this journey with us :)