Cayden 3 year pictures

While I'm on bedrest in the hospital, Scott has been in charge of everything. That included taking Cayden to have his pictures done now that he is 3 years old. I was very impressed with the outcome. First, Scott had to pick out what Cayden was going to wear for the pictures. Then he took Cayden to have his hair cut. And then Scott took Cayden to Babies 'R' Us for the Kiddie Kandid pictures that they take there. They got some really great shots. I can't narrow them down as to which one(s) I want to order yet. I think they are all very handsome! Scott did a great job with everything!

Another Pregnancy Update

Good news! The doctors here are pretty much ready to send me back to Minot! The plan is that the Minneapolis doctors are going to talk to the Minot doctors on Monday. The Minneapolis doctors feel that since nothing is really happening, other than the occassional contraction, that I could keep doing what I'm doing here, but do it in Minot. The Minneapolis doctor that I talked to this afternoon was going to even recommend that I go home and be on bed rest. The Minot doctor wants to admit me to the hospital for bed rest. Either way, it will be nice to be back in Minot. I did talk to my Minot doctor this afternoon to make sure that they (he and the neonatologist in Minot) could handle me and the babies. They feel that at 28 weeks they could handle us. 28 weeks starts Wednesday, July 2nd. I have an ultrasound that afternoon to check baby growth and my cervix length. If everything looks O.K. on Wednesday, the doctors said that I could potentially go home on Thursday, July 3rd. That's a week sooner than I originally thought I would be able to go home. The Minneapolis doctors also said that I could ride home with Scott and Cayden or my parents (they are coming done either Monday, June 30th or Tuesday, July 1st). Scott's parents were planning on coming to visit us also. Their plans were to fly in on July 5th and stay until July 8th. But it looks like they might have a change of plans. So, I guess they might see if they can change their tickets to fly in to Minot or Bismarck. I know Cayden is very excited about them coming to visit.

In other news... Someone has a 30th birthday coming up on July 6th. Do you know who?? The loving daddy and husband who has done everything for Cayden and I during this "interesting" time in our lives. I had these great plans of throwing Scott a surprise birthday party, but as it turns out, that won't happen. I almost ordered him a cake this morning, but I'm glad that I didn't as we might not even be in Minneapolis for his birthday.

I will keep everyone updated as we hear more from the doctors.

Love,
Shayna

Update on Mommy

Mommy is doing well. The doctors come check in on her every morning. The other morning, one of them asked if she had started to grow roots to her bed. I didn't get it, but mommy thought it was funny. This particular doctor has a set of 15 year old boy triplets of his own. He is very friendly (unlike some of the others). He always listens to my stories when I wake up from them coming in the room at 6 am. The doctors just keep telling mommy to keep resting and doing what she is doing. Daddy brings me to the hospital to see mom every day. Occasionally, we spend the night with her. I think mommy has grown to enjoy the comfort of daddy's snoring. She said something to me that it isn't so lonely in the room when she hears us sleeping in her room. Here's one of the few moments that I felt like snuggling with Mommy. I also enjoy getting into Mommy's bed when she gets up. One of my favorite things to do is check out what Mommy gets to eat. She always gets a fresh fruit cup that consists of about 4-6 grapes, canned pineapple chunks and 2-3 pieces of cantaloupe. I really love that shares her fruit with me. Actually, I eat it all unless she sneaks a piece when I'm not looking. Twice a day, early morning and after dinner, they hook Mommy up to all these circle things. Then it gets a little noisy in her room. They tell me that they are checking on the babies and listening to their heart beats. She gets three of these circle things that are blue, one for each baby. Then she also gets another circle strapped to her to monitor something called contractions. They say sometimes she has one when she is hooked up to this monitor, but that is good. If it gets to be more than 6 in one hour, then it's time to get concerned. They always ask Mommy if she can feel them, but Mommy says that usually she can't. Mommy said it hard to tell the difference between a contraction and all three babies moving at the same time. And this is a picture of Mommy last week when she was officially 26 weeks pregnant. Her belly is getting big! They tell me that it is only going to get bigger! Here's how Daddy and I sleep when we stay with Mommy. Daddy claims that it really isn't bad, and I sleep pretty good here myself. Finally, Daddy took a little video clip of me telling everyone an update on Mommy and the babies. Click on the arrow on the bottom left to play the clip.


Take care,
Love,
Cayden

Cayden at the Twins Game

Cayden got to go to his first Major League Baseball game (granted it was no Braves game, but he didn't know any better). I guess it pays off having mommy in the hospital in Minneapolis. There is so much for the "guys" to do while I'm resting. I suppose I can handle them out enjoying themselves. I know Cayden is having a blast doing the different things (and he also enjoys visiting mommy and having slumber parties at the hospital). This is Cayden on the way to the game.



Outside the Twins Stadium.



Cayden and his Daddy having fun.





Apparently Cayden had a healthy appetite at the game. He ate his hot dog and part of his daddy's. He also enjoyed some of Addy's popcorn.



Also, Cayden loved his cotton candy.


And this is Cayden after lots of Cotton Candy. That is his bag of Cotton Candy he is holding over his head. Silly kiddo!



By the way, Mommy is doing fine, too!

25 weeks and 6 days...

So after my posts last night, I realized that I forgot to update on the pregnancy. My mom also had to point out that I said nothing about it either.

Things are still the same. No news is good news here. The nurses check the baby heartbeats in the morning and and at night. Baby A seems to be the trouble maker now and she doesn't like to stay still for the nurses. Then after they check the heartbeats for about 5 minutes, they hook me up to a contraction monitor for at least an hour. I usually have one contraction during that hour, but I usually don't feel it. Occassionally, I think I might feel it, but it's hard to tell the difference for me between the contraction and the babies moving. The babies are sure getting a work out in my belly, as they always seems to be moving. I mostly feel Baby A, but I think it is because she is so low in my belly.

Scott and Cayden have come by every day to see me. It is often during the afternoon, so Cayden naps while he is here. Who am I kidding? We all nap while they are here. It's just nice to know that I am not the only one in the room. The nights sometimes get long, but for the most part I get some good rest. The best rest usually comes about the time that the doctors come in the morning for their rounds (which is anywhere between 6 and 6:30 am).

There is nothing else that I can think of. Oh, Tuesdays is weigh in day (what fun) and I have lost 4 pounds since I got here Thursday. The nutritionist told me on Thursday that it is not uncommon for patients to lose weight when they first get here. I feel like I have been eating lots, and I'm definitely not burning many calories lying here. We'll see what happens between now and next Tuesday.

I can't believe that it was a week ago this afternoon that I was sent to the hosptial in Minot. One week of bedrest completed, 3-4 more to go in Minneapolis. Then the talk is that they will try to send me back to Minot.

I think that is everything for now. Cayden and Scott are getting ready for our naps, and Cayden is waiting for me to get done typing so I can nap too.

Here's a picture of Cayden "watching" a dvd on Saturday when they were here visiting.

Cayden's Water Adventure

On June 8th, we thought we would take Cayden to a local park in Minot. This park has recently created a kids water play area. We didn't think it was going to be nice enough for the water to be running, but it was. Cayden decided he had to check it out. Here are some of the pictures we got of him. We also got a video, but I've never done video on here, so we'll see if I can get it to work. Hopefully it does because it is kind of a funny clip. (Of course, I'm biased because I think Cayden is one of the cutest kids in the world!)




This last picture above is really the video clip. Hit the play arrow on the bottom left side to see the video. It worked for me when I checked it, so hopefully it will work for you too.

Cayden's Birthday

Cayden's Birthday was really June 2nd, but I'm just now getting around to updating for that.

I think Cayden is going to always think that he gets to celebrate his birthday twice. We celebrated his birthday with my sister, Lisa, and her family over Memorial weekend. We did a cake with cupcakes, and I think that Cayden thought the best part was when we all sang "Happy Birthday" to him.





Then we celebrated Cayden's birthday again the following weekend. He insisted on a "McQueen" cake (from the movie Cars). I had made him his first cakes for his first two birthdays, but I didn't feel like taking on McQueen this year. So we ordered him one. I'm glad we did because there is no way I could have made one this cute!





One of Cayden's favorite gifts was a Spiderman scooter. Scott also found some nice knee pads, elbow pads and gloves that we told Cayden he has to wear when he rides his scooter outside. (No I didn't forget about the helmet, but he already had that for his trike). He's not crazy about all of the padding, but he tried a scooter once without the pads and had to learn the hard way, scraping up his knee a little (I wasn't there to witness that fall. Someone else was in charge then).

25 weeks and 2 days

This is my second attempt at this post. For some reason, when I hit post, I lost everything. Hopefully, I can remember everything.

I'm in Minneapolis now at Fairview Riverside Hospital, which is part of the University of Minnesota. I was received and ambulance ride from the Minot Hospital to the Minot airport. Then I "got" to ride in an air ambulance to St. Paul, MN. And from there I got to ride in another ambulance to the hospital. I arrived here yesterday around noon. It was difficult being here the first days without Scott and Cayden, but the staff here has been wonderful and very friendly.

Yesterday afternoon they took me to have another ultrasound done. Things looked to be about the same. Babies A and C measured one ounce lighter than they did in Minot, but Baby B measured the same. In Minot, I could never see the ultrasound, but here they have a nice big flat screen on the wall so I could see everything. The ultrasound tech also told me what she was looking for as she was doing each thing, and it seems everything is good. They also did another cervical ultrasound. They didn't tell me anything about it, but from what I could tell, it looked about the same (I thought I saw the measurements to be about the same). I was hoping that somehow my cervix would magically grow, but I guess not. We have lots of ultrasound pics to upload, but no way of doing it right now. Maybe Scott can get them uploaded at Lisa's sometime. It looks like all of the babies have Cayden's little button nose!

Scott and Cayden left Minot yesterday afternoon and drove as far as Fargo, ND last night. There was some more nasty weather, and I think that they were both getting tired. They got here around noon today. It was really great seeing them. Then Auntie Lisa came by with lunch for them. Once Cayden knew that Auntie Lisa was coming, all he could talk about was his cousins Addy and Ash. So Scott is going to take Cayden over to Lisa's this evening, and I think that they all might be headed to Chuck E. Cheese. Just happens to be one of Cayden's favorite things to do here.

Other than that, there haven't been any new developments. I'm just laying low trying to keep these babies comfy in my belly as long as I can. I have been told here that each day that the babies stay in is really a blessing, so that is why I made sure to include the "and 2 days" in the subject.

I also want to thank you all for the kind words and prayers you are sending our way. I hope to reply back to the emails we've been getting, but lying down and typing isn't as easy as I thought it would be. I will do my best.

I guess that is all for now.

Love,
Shayna

Pregnancy Update

Well, I'm way behind in my updates. Sorry to those of you who check regularily. Let me sum up the last month of activities. My teaching ended mid-May. The first week after school was out, I decided Cayden needed a big boy bedroom - no more yellow walls! He really enjoys his "new room" with red and blue walls (we have some pictures, those will come later). Lisa (my sister) and family came to visit over Memorial Weekend and we celebrated Cayden's Birthday with them (his birthday was the following week). After Lisa and family left, we started working on the babies room. I don't think we have any pictures of that yet, but we'll get some when we can. It's hard trying to fit three cribs in one room. Then we celebrated Cayden's Birthday June 2nd. I also started my last class of my Graduate program that day, and we had a check up at the doctor's for the babies. Everything was fine there!

Here's the real pregnancy update: On June 10th, we went in for another ultrasound (those pics are somewhere as well, but I don't have them on my computer). The babies looked great. Baby A (girl) was 1 pound 13 ounces. Baby B (boy) was 1 pound 10 ounces. And Baby C (girl) was 1 pound 12 ounces. They also did a cervical ultrasound to determine my cervical length. After the ultrasound tech was done, she said she needed to call my doctor to see if there was anything else he needed. I secretly though "Uh, oh" in my head. Apparently my cervix length is only 1.4 cm, and ideally it should be 3 cm or more. So, we were sent up to the doctor's office immediately after the ultrasound. From his office, I was sent to the hospital for further observation. (I have been in a horizontal position to not put pressure on my cervix). We were told yesterday at the hospital that the neonatologist that is in Minot is not comfortable taking care of all three babies if they were to be delivered now. So we needed to make a decision as to where we wanted to go for care that could handle all three. We were to pick from Fargo, ND or Minneapolis, MN. We decided Minneapolis for a couple of reasons: 1) Lisa lives there and 2). they have more resources than Fargo. So all day today they have been trying to locate an air ambulance that can get me from Minot to Minneapolis. Unfortunately, there have been some nasty thunderstorms between here and there, that no one was willing to fly yet. So, we hope tomorrow that I will be able to get to Minneapolis.

I really feel fine, no swelling, no pain anywhere, and apparently I'm having some contractions (can tell when I'm hooked up on a monitor), but I can't feel them. Cayden and Scott have been great through all of this. Scott has spent much of his time with me and doing all of my to-do lists (packing for the air ambulance trip and for the stay in Minneapolis). Cayden has spent most of his time with Grandma Connie and Grandpa Harley, and he's loving that too. Thank goodness for Grandma and Grandpa.

So, in a nut shell, I'm hopefully heading off to Minneapolis tomorrow, weather permitting. My current doctor said that he wants me to go there for 4 weeks. Then I should be able to come back to Minot and have the babies (that is if they cooperate and "bake" some more for those four weeks). Scott and Cayden will come down in Scott's car after I leave. They both plan on staying in Minneapolis with me the entire time.

If you want to email me or Scott, you can email me at my email shayna_gibbons@yahoo.com If you want to email Scott, you can send it to me, and I will forward it on.

I will definitely keep the blog updated more often now, as I apparently have more time on my hands now, and I know many of you are interested in how we are doing.

I think that is it for now.
Love,
Shayna