Welcome to the world Baby James

This is the story of the arrival of James Wallace Nielson, our beautiful son. On Thursday, November 6th I went in for my 38 and a half week check up with my doctor. She told me I was dialated to a 3 and could have the baby soon or it could take up to a few weeks. So I left thinking I still had a good week or so until I was due. That next morning at 3:30 I woke up like normal to go to the bathroom. This time was a bit different though because I felt some tightning, my guess was that it was a braxton hicks contraction. So I went back to bed and then 8 minutes later the same thing happened again. I happened about 4 times before I woke Josh up and asked him to help me relax and focus on something else, like hypno-birthing told me to do during a surge. With Josh's coaching, I was able to relax during the surge and focus on something else, instead of the pain. This continued for a while and I took a hot bath and was able to relax a bit more. Later on the contractions were 5 minutes apart and I had no idea I was experiencing true labor contractions. Once the contractions started to be 2 minutes apart I finally realized I was going to have my baby. So I was writing a lesson plan for my sub between the contractions. I finally sent them out and then we left to go to the hospital. On the way my contractions were 1 minute apart. Then we got to Utah Valley Hospital. When we got there I still thought we had time and felt alright so we parked and walked in. When I got situated in the birthing room they checked me and I was dialated to a 5. As I continued to go through contractions, I was so grateful my husband was there because he is the one who helped me relax and put my mind somewhere else. The thoughts that made me get through it so well was being able to visualize me and my son doing different things. 20 minutes later I was dialated to a 8 and 10 minutes after that I was dialated to a big 10. My doctor came in and informed that if I wanted to have my baby in 3 hours that I could continue with the hypnobirthing, but that it would take 3 hours to breath the baby down. She said that if I wanted to do that she would go back to her office and return in 3 hours. Yet if I wanted to have my baby in 20 minutes that I could start pushing now. I did not want her to leave and 20 minutes sounded a lot better then 3 hours so I told her I would start pushing right then. So I pushed a total of 9 times in 10 minutes. During the last part of this time our baby was in distress and not happy , because he was not getting enough oxygen, so they put the oxygen mask on me and told me that I had to push our little guy out in the next 3 pushes or they would have to take other measures, like a C-section. All I could think about at this time is my baby is in distress and I that I didn't want a C-section. So I dug down and pushed as hard as I freaking could. I didn't care what happened, all I wanted was for him to come out breathing. So I pushed as hard as I could and I felt as though I could have given birth to my heart. But suddenly the most amazing thing happened. He was on my belly and crying his little lungs out. I was so extremely happy that I didn't even know what to do. It was so neat having him skin to skin and just seeing our little boy enter this would. Daddy was one excited man, he was announcing his arrival to everyone he saw. The nurses said that they had never seen such an excited father before. Josh was calling everyone and he just couldn't stop smiling. He went with baby James for all his assesments and told James that he would always be right next to him to support him, even during the circumcision. Josh is a proud daddy and I know he will be the best daddy too. I love how he comes home and just craddles his little guy and can't get enough of him. James Wallace Nielson Born: Novemeber 7, 2008 at 8:56 A.M Weight: 7 lbs 12 oz Height: 19 inches Features like daddy: blonde hair, light skin, long toes Features like mommy: ears, lips, long fingers and hair line Mommy is so in love with his little son. Each time I look at him I just feel so blessed and know that he is truly an amazing miracle. His whole birth was such a spiritual experience and it really made me feel loved by my father in heaven. My hope is that I can be a good mom and always show him my love no matter what. It is so neat being a women and having the experience of carrying James for 9 months, having a pretty easy birth and then taking him home to love and care for him. I can definatley say that I am in the transition of learning new things about my body and about my little son. I am currently learning how to breast feed. He is so funny because he gets so frusterated if he can't lach on. James definalty tells us if he has a dirty diaper or is hungry. We stayed at the hospital for 2 days and came home Sunday morning. We had a great experience at the hospital and we were visited by friends and family the whole time. We didn't get much sleep but I totally enjoyed being waited on and just relaxing. Well James, you sure have 2 other ladies that adore you and can't get enough of you. Your grandma and nana are total baby hogs and have been the greatest help to Josh and I during this time in our lives. Thanks to them for bearing us when we were born into this world. It is amazing what our mothers did for us throughout our lives. Thanks MOM(s)!

Counting down to 38 weeks

30 weeks 31 weeks 32 weeks 33 weeks 34 weeks 35 weeks 36 weeks 37 weeks 38 weeks

For the love of the Game

Josh just had his last day of coaching tonight. He has been helping coach the Salem Sky Hawk team. They are a brand new school this year and therefore had to basically start from scratch. Since FOOTBALL is Josh's favorite sport, he loved coaching the teenage boys. Almost everyday there was a new story and I could tell that he just loved working with the young boys, and had hopes to influence them for good. I look up to my husband for the man he is. He is so involved in other peoples lives and has pure excitment for little things. He is a leader in so many ways and he continually teaches me to always love my elementary students no matter what, because in all reality that is what they will remember as the years go by. Even though his team did not come out on top, I know that Josh will persue his dream of one day being a head coach for a football team. GO TEAM GO!! I have never met anyone who is such a diehard for football. Football is his passion and he thrives for it. It's so funny watching him watch a game, because his whole body gets into it and he is so intense about the plays. Currently, the love of my game is teaching my team of third graders. I have been feeling great and still have the synergy for all my hyper 8 and 9 year olds. I love teaching and find it so rewarding. Teaching young children in surly a passion of mine. I have great kids this year and just love them to death. They always give me hugs at the end of the day and now my tummy is being implanted with kisses as the days go by. They are so excited that I am having a baby soon, it is a continual countdown. Now we are at 13 days away. I have become a little stressed out, knowing that I need to get all my lesson plans done before I go into labor, so I am not doing them in the hospital. Thus, my plan is to teach until I am actually going into labor or until my actual due date. Yet, I must be prepared, because so many people have told me their stories of going early. The biggest change I am encountering is my ability to sleep and be comfortable. I will admit that having a big huge ball in the middle of my waist is not always the most pleasant. My poor husband hears me get up in the middle of the night like 3-4 times. I guess my body is just getting us prepared for when our son will be waking up every 3 hours to be fed. Ready or not, Baby James will come when he pleases. This countdown of 13 days may be correct, to late or to early. No one really knows, it is just a guess in reality. I want him to come when he wants, even if he is late. I would rather him come late then be induced. (This is just one of my preferences, unless he was like 2 or more weeks late, then I would be concerned).

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum have some fun!

Every year Josh and I take turns picking out the costumes for Halloween. I picked these great costumes, allowing me to be nice and plump and comfortable as I am 38 weeks pregnant. We did feel like total nerds being Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum but we had a ton of fun acting the part too. Josh insisted in being Dum, that just allowed him to goof off even more. We went to the Halloween Party at the school where I teach curently and my students just loved it. Currently in 3rd grade I am reading them Alice in Wonderland, so that made it that much better. Josh sometimes comes into my classroom and reads to them, he is a celebrity in my class, the kids just adore him. Halloween night we made our rounds to our brothers and sisters homes. Halloween is always more fun when kids are involved. They get so excited about trick or treating. It was so great being with everyone, mom even dressed up her little baby pug. I love Halloween, it is just a time to be crazy, have fun and eat a lot of candy. How could you not like it? Plus, it's fun to just see everyones creative costumes. I wonder what Joshy will pick next year for our family of 3. As a clan of us took the kids around and I held little McKay (little bear), I just couldn't help but think that next year I will be holding our Baby James who will be almost the same age as Mc Kay, taking him around for the event of trick or treating. Wow there is so much to look forward to. Eliza was our nightly entertainment. She is so funny and so dang cute. She's so tiny and will sing out a song from High School Musical, with actions and everything. We can't help but just prob her on, she loves the attention.

BABY JAMES

HE'S OUR LITTLE GIFT AND WE CAN"T WAIT TO RECIEVE HIM AND WELCOME HIM TO THE WORLD! (my husband came up with this idea for the picture, how clever)

Maternity Shots

My cute little sister Amber is such an amazing photographer. She came down last weekend for my family shower and brought all her backgrouds and lights. I was really impressed with the shots she took. It was a lot of fun too. It was so funny, because during the majority of these, she kept on making me stick out my tummy. I love you Amber and thanks a ton for being so great. We are so excited to be a mommy and daddy!! During this photoshoot we almost got arrested. If you look at the picture where I am sitting infront of the brick wall, we only took like 8 different shots there and then moved. Yet we parked right next to that business building, which was in a back alley. Well, as we were taking pictures in another area we suddenly saw a bunch of cars arriving an blocking our car in. So we went over to where they were and they were Spanish speaking so we could barly communicate. The lady and husband were ticked. We told them what we were doing, yet they could not understand us. We hadn't done any harm so Amber got in the car and started to manover herself out. Then a big huge hummer blocked us in on another side. Amber did manage to get out, then I again explained myself to this guy who could speak english and we told him we were just taking pictures and did not touch anything of theirs. He said he would explain it to the ones inside. So we drove away thinking all was well. At home we hear a knock at the door and low and behold it is a cop. We could not believe it. So we explained everything and he said that they were thinking we went into their shed, which we didn't even touch. The cop took down my name and information and then said that some people just get very peranoid. That was our adventure of the photoshoot. I am now 36 weeks and am realizing that I could go into labor at anytime. Yet, I am not feeling close at all. I still feel great, but am realizing that this little guy inside of me wants more room. He is moving all the time and gets right under my ribs, which is not to comfortable. Another change I have been experiencing is how dang full I get when I eat. It bugs me, because I barely eat anything and my tummy just feels bloated, man I wish this happened normally, because I love food and sometimes eat to much. I guess he is just taking up all the room and leaving no room for food to come in. Lastly, sleeping is becoming a lot less comfortable, just cause my big tummy is in the way. I am constantly moving and making potty breaks every 3 hours in the middle of the night. Even with these changes, I am totally enjoying these moments of holding our little son inside of me. We just keep on counting down the days. I finally have a phone now, since the last one went missing, but I have lost all my numbers. Please email me at shannannielson@gmail.com so I can have your phone number again. Thanks!

Hypnobirthing

I have been thinking a lot about our little angel who is growing and getting ready to come down to us. It really is a miracle how a little one is formed into a perfect being. We just feel so honored and grateful to have the opportunity to bring an innocent and perfect child into this world. As I am now 34 weeks today, I am feeling my little boys personality. Josh and I have really been enjoying the kicking and communication we have with little James through touch. Whenever I start rubbing, poking or touching my stomach he starts to react and sometimes I can even grab some part of his body. It is so much fun seeing my stomach go up and down and doing the wave. It is so neat to seriously see him moving so much. I am sure he is going to be one active baby. Throughout this pregnancy I have really felt strongly about having a natural birth, without medication. My mind is at great peace when I think of this, to some of you I know you may think I am crazy and think, "good luck", yet as we all know it is up to the one that actually has to go through the birth. Josh and I have been attending Hypnobirthing classes every Wednesday. I love the idea of hypnobirthing and how their whole method is to make the natural birth more comfotable, easy and relaxing. It is not as it sounds, it is not actually getting hypnotized, it is getting yourself into such a deep relaxation that you place your mind some place else, other then where the pain is expected to be. I have been learning that giving birth is so painful because of the fight or flight that the mother goes into during the stages of bearing a child. I have been learning that we have to place mind over matter and allow our body to do what it is intended to do naturally. I am a true believer that my birth can be easy and enjoyable, with my husband, who will be my amazing birthing coach. Almost every night I do a relaxation technique with Josh or with a CD that helps me relax. It feels good to have to make time for myself. I think I have been getting wrapped up in everything I have to do and where I have to be that sometimes I forget about me. During these relaxation times, I feel united with James and am able to think about the birth and focus on what really matters- My little family. We are so excited to have our little guy join us soon. I have no complaints as I have had a very easy pregnancy. I have not been sick, emotional or different. I feel that I have been extremely blessed and the only change I can actually notice is my big tummy that keeps on growing, growing and growing everyday. My tummy is so tight and I just keep on thinking how can it stretch anymore? I am not able to eat as much as I would like either, because James is taking all the room. It seems that my stomach is squished or smaller or something, cause trust me I want to eat more, I just get so full and have to go to the bathroom so often. Oh, the joys of becoming a mother are all worth it.

My handy man

I never knew I married such an handy man. He has amazed me in so many ways. Our house has a porch which I love. Yet, it had no stairs. How wierd is that? Anyways, Joshy knew how bad I wanted stairs so we could actually go to our backyard alot easier, so look what he did. Before: After: Wow, I love it!! Thanks babe!!

2 Year Anniversary

I have been so blessed to be married to such an amazing man. He is the one who has been there for me constantly for the last 2 years. As I think of the last 2 years, I can say that we have learned a ton about eachother and now understand one another alot more. We have had an amazing journy so far and I am so excited to see what will happen this year with our new addition to our little family. We had a great anniversary of course. We went to the weekend BYU game and sat front row at the 50 yard line. I am really loving the games and Josh is so cute, cause every year he buys me a new BYU outfit and hat for the new season. Joshy surprised me with these beautiful huge rose and took coaching off for the evening. We caught a movie, went looking for our gift, which is going to be a rocker recliner for the babys room. We went out to dinner for Chinese food and it was crazy because Josh's fortune cookie read the following. How suiting for the occasion. I thought Josh had set it up or something, but it was just luck, I guess. This year I made a book of 100 reasons why I love my handsome husband. He loved it! I could have gone on forever with more reasons why I love him. He is just so easy to love and adore. Then the rest of the night was history and we just created our own fun, if you know what I mean!!

Weekend Quicky

We had a great weekend. Mom, dad and Amber came to visit for a day. They are so awesome. They got to our house Saturday morning at 2AM and had to leave on Sunday right after church at 11AM. They came for our cousin Travis's reception. It was so much fun being with them. The boys went to the BYU game and us girls went shopping all Saturday. That evening we went to the reception and it was so good to see our cousins and see Travis finally married. Amber, Tilly, Natalie and I catching up on life. Amber is such a great sister, she is so much fun and just a blast to be with. She is definalty a motivator and I just love her to death. Thanks for coming to visit for such a short time. Sherlyn is such a funny cousin and we always have a laugh with him. Me and my 2 babes. Mom and I also spent late hours canning delicious peaches. Mom is so great, she is always helping me and teaching me new things. All I can say is mom and dad are so great at loving us kids and always showing us love through their actions, travels, time and love. I am so happy to have them as my parents, because I know they love me and would do absolutley anything for Joshy and I. We are greatly blessed to have them as our parents.