Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Almost 32 weeks...

Figured it's about time for another pregnancy update. Last week I started having some contractions. They put me on some medicine and that seems to have taken care of the issue for now. They weren't painful contractions (sort of like a tightening of my stomach muscles), and I only felt very few of them. But the doctor was worried and he wanted us to stop them.

Today I had another ultrasound where they took measurements of the babies and approximated their weights. Baby A weighed in at 3 pounds 13 ounces, Baby B weighed in at 3 pounds 12 ounces, and are you ready for this???? Baby C weighed in at 4 pounds 7 ounces!!!!!!!!! That is a weight gain of nearly one and a half pounds in the last two weeks for Baby C. I'm still in a bit of shock over that weight gain. Overall, the babies looked good on the ultrasound. I haven't heard from the doctor yet. He usually comes and discusses the ultrasounds with me at some point.

Other than that, I am still on bedrest in the hospital. I will stay here until the babies are born. I've reached (well, almost reached) another milestone of 32 weeks. So now the goal is 33-34 weeks. But the doctor has also said that once we made it to 32 weeks, he would probably let me go into labor rather than trying to stop it again.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Pregnancy Update- Almost 30 weeks

Well, I'm almost 30 weeks now, officially on July 16th. I was looking forward to this as I thought that I might be able to go home at 30 weeks on strict bedrest. It all depended on how the ultrasound went today.

Good news: Babies are all doing well and growing quite well. Bad news: My cervix has thinned out to almost nothing, actually to nothing at all I am told. So I have to stay in the hospital. I really was looking forward to going home. I haven't been home since the morning of June 10th. But as I am reminded by many people, I have to do what is best for the babies. I definitely would rather be here than at home if something was to go wrong.

Now back to the good news:
Baby A weighs in at 3 pounds, 1 ounce today.
Here's a 3-D ultrasound of baby A's face. They took this in Minneapolis, but we just now got it scanned in.


Baby B weighs in at 3 pounds exactly.
Here's Baby B's 3-d face picture. There really isn't a hole in his head, it's just the shadows and angle the ultrasound tech had to use to get his picture.


Baby C weighs in at 3 pounds, 2 ounces.
And of course, Baby C's ultrasound picture.


Now onto the "other" pictures. I kept promising more belly pics, so here they are. I haven't been able to see myself in a full length mirror for 2 weeks now. Let me tell you, I am shocked by the pictures. However, many of the nurses comment on how small my belly looks for triplets.

Here's the "naked" belly picture.

I'm laying down on this one. I think my belly looks HUGE!!!


So the plan is that I will remain in the hospital now until I deliver. We hope to make it to at least 32 weeks, but 33 or 34 weeks would be even better for the babies. I might lose my sanity, but I will survive. To be quite honest, it hasn't been so bad. The days go by really slowly, but overall the time has actually gone by fast. Just not the way a had planned on spending my summer. Although, now that I think about it, this pregnancy has been nothing that I planned for. I'm told that this is all getting me ready for what is in store when the babies come.

Feel free to email us: shayna_gibbons@yahoo.com
If you have an email for Scott, I will forward it along to him.

That's all for now.
Shayna

Boys will be boys...

So, I guess Scott and Cayden have lots of fun together, and even get a little goofy! Here's some pictures that Cayden took of Scott and Scott took of Cayden. I'm not sure what they were thinking... But since I got a hold of them, I thought they should go on the blog.

This is Cayden and Scott giving their best "gansta" looks. What do you think?



Cayden showing off his muscles. I'm not sure why his shirt is on his head. Also, I should mention that on Cayden's right arm is a tattoo of 'Mater' from the movie Cars. He got that from his cousin Ash, in celebration of Ash's birthday. (It's been on for about 20 days now! It just won't wash off!)


This is Cayden showing you that the "Beach is that way". He is too funny!

Slip 'n' Slide

Cayden got his first slip'n'slide for his birthday. It just so happened that we found a Cars one. Scott filmed a little of it for me so I could see what Cayden thought of it. It was really windy (hard to imagine that in ND, I know). Cayden really didn't want to get his tummy wet, but he did have some fun on it.

Here's one clip...


And here's another clip. Did I mention that it was really windy out?? That is why the sound on this one is so horrible. Sorry.

Cayden and his Cousin Addy

This is a clip of Cayden and Addy at the Mall of America. Scott and my sister Lisa took the kids there to go on the rides there one day while we were staying in Minneapolis. Cayden and Addy really had fun, so I'm told.

In this video, Cayden is on the far right, and Addy is next to him. The poor boy on the other side of Addy apparently didn't think the ride was so much fun. If I remember correctly, I think Scott said that they had to stop the ride because the boy was crying.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Someone turned 30 today!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOTT! 30 years ago you were welcomed into this world! (not sure why there is a blue spot on your head in this picture, sorry)



I was trying to remind Scott as often as possible that he was 30 today. I don't think he found me very funny. To celebrate, Scott, Cayden, Grandma Connie and Grandpa Harley went to eat at Cayden's favorite restaurant, Space Aliens. Cayden loves it because he gets to play games there. Then they brought me some lunch. While everyone was at the hospital, Grandma surprised Scott with a birthday cake. Well, actually 2 birthday cakes, one was a 3 and the other was a 0. We all got a kick out of it. Cayden insisted that we all sing Happy Birthday to Daddy, which we did. The cake was really yummy.

Happy 30th Birthday, Scott. I hope you had a great day!

Love,
Shayna

Happy Belated 4th of July

Well, my 4th of July consisted of me laying in bed all day and reading a book. Scott and Cayden came to visit for a while. And then Cayden was off to the lake with Grandma Connie and Grandpa Harley. He had quite a blast I'm told. I had Grandma and Grandpa take some pictures. Cayden's favorite activities included: fishing with Grandma, walking in the water and throwing rocks into the water. We're not talking little rocks, but instead the biggest ones he could pick up. Then Grandma, Grandpa and Cayden brought Scott and I supper and we had a picnic in the hospital. They didn't want to leave me out of the 4th of July festivities. Later that night, Scott, Cayden and I tried to watch fireworks from my hospital window, but we couldn't see much. But we tried for a long time. Grandpa went out and bought us some fireworks that we can shoot out at the lake when I get out of this place. (I know I'm doing what's best for the babies, but I feel like I'm in jail and can't do anything!)

Here's some of the pics of Cayden at the lake.






We're Back in Minot!!!

We are finally back in Minot. After 3 weeks in Minneapolis, we were all happy to get back here. Granted I still have to stay in the hospital, but I think Scott and Cayden were pretty happy to be back in their house. Plus, I think the dogs were excited to have them back too.

Update on babies... I had an another ultrasound done on Wednesday, July 2nd. They were checking on babies growth and development. All were growing nicely. The new estimates of the babies weights are Baby A: 2 lbs, 8 oz (3 weeks earlier she was 1 lb 13 oz). Baby B: 2lbs, 8 oz (3 weeks earlier he was 1 lb 10 oz) and Baby C: 2 lbs 6 oz (3 weeks earlier she was 1 lb 12 oz). My cervix had only thinned out slightly more, so they decided that I could go home, with the okay of the Minot doctors. I got to ride home with Scott and Cayden in the car. That was a nice fun car ride. I had to lay as flat as possible the whole way. Cayden and I dozed on and off and lucky Scott got to drive us the whole way. He did quite well. Grandma Connie and Grandpa Harley followed us home. They had come to Minneapolis on June 30th for my nephew Ashton's 2nd birthday.

The plan is to keep me in the hospital here in Minot at least until 30 weeks. Then they will do another ultrasound to check growth and development. This will be ultrasound #7 for this pregnancy. If things are still looking good and no changes, I might get to go home on strict bedrest. If things don't look so hot, then I have to stay until at least 32 weeks. (Right now I'm 28.5 weeks). The goal is to make it to at least 32 weeks without delivering, but the doctor said 34 weeks would be even better. I hope I can make it that far.

My belly feels huge. I'll have Scott take another picture one of these days. It's getting harder for me to get up out of the bed to use the restroom. And trying to roll from one side to the other is challenging. This might be too much for some of you, but when I roll over, I can feel my belly shift and then settle. It's really a strange feeling.

I think that covers the pregnancy updates. I'll keep everyone posted!

Love,
Shayna