Batavia couple welcomes newborn on New Year’s Day

Andrea and Matthew Hodge of Batavia celebrated New Year’s Day with the birth of their third child.

Pearl Noelle Hodge was born at 5:28 a.m. Jan. 1 at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva. Andrea said Pearl was a healthy 7 pounds, 5 ounces and was brought home Jan. 2.

The Hodges have three girls and are no strangers to delivering babies at the turn of the year. Their firstborn was born Dec. 31, 2020, and the family was celebrating her birthday before heading to the hospital on New Year’s Eve.

“We seem to have a holiday tradition,” Andrea said. “It was definitely not planned that way, but it is an exciting way to start the new year. You’ve got a new life and a growing family. It’s definitely a change from how I used to celebrate the holiday, but it’s fun.”

Andrea said she experienced a bit of what she called “mom guilt” when leaving for the hospital on her firstborn’s birthday, but said she looks forward to celebrating their birthdays together in future years.

Andrea said Pearl’s sisters are excited to have another girl in the family and they came to the hospital to see their baby sister on New Year’s Day.

“She’s got two great big sisters and they are very excited to take care of her and have her around as a part of the family,” Andrea said. “We’re very thankful that everybody is happy and healthy and we can move into a new year as a growing family here.”

Andrea said her water broke right about midnight Dec. 31. She said Pearl was a surprise both in her conception and birthday. They were not expecting to have more children and were expecting Pearl to be born in December.

“That made it special, the fact that she came into the world on such a fun day,” Andrea said. “It’ll be a fun memory that we can always share and have, so that’s exciting for us as a family.”

Andrea said this was an especially neat delivery experience. Her father, Dr. Peter Cladis, was able to be in the delivery room with them for Pearl’s birth. Cladis has been a practicing physician for more than 40 years and even delivered Matthew, his future son-in-law and Pearl’s father.

“The whole experience was as fun as labor and delivery can be,” Andrea said. “It was a special moment for the family.”

Pearl was named after Matthew’s late grandmother, who Andrea said would have been 99 this year.