I can’t believe that my little baby boy is four years old today. Time flies when you’re having fun. Here are pictures of him from every year on his birthday, as well as his birth story. I’m immensely proud and immeasurably blessed.
Sam's Birth Story by Jon Meyer
When we found out late December 2004 that we were expecting our first child, we were ecstatic. We had been trying for more than several months to get pregnant, but couldn’t believe it when it finally happened.
Amy (mom) had decided that she would use the same office for her OB treatment as she did for her GYN treatment. As you will see, this turned out to be a mistake. We had made the decision to have an unmedicated, natural childbirth. We contacted a doula to work with us during the pregnancy and birth; this would turn out to be invaluable.
The more that we read about anesthetics and epidurals, the less we wanted to use them; the more we read about the strength of the female body to endure unmedicated birth, the more we wanted that for our unborn child.
On the first visits to the OB, everything seemed on the surface to go well; we just had this nagging doubt about our doctors. Something did not feel right. As the visits progressed, we found that all of the OBs in the practice seemed to merely tolerate our desire for natural childbirth, but not embrace it. We spoke with our childbirth educator, and our doula. If we had bad feelings about the doctors at 6 months, they were only going to get worse. After months of “dealing with it,” we made the difficult decision to move to a practice that was more patient-oriented and accepting of our wishes. This was during the 7th month of Amy’s pregnancy. On the recommendation of our Bradley© Class instructor and our doula, we contacted an OB practice in the area that is known for being open to the parent’s wishes, and natural childbirth. It is staffed by an OB and two Certified Nurse Midwives. The difference was staggering. The acceptance and encouragement provided by this office was total. We knew at that time that we had made the right choice.
At 37 weeks, Amy went in for her routine visit. All of the visits had been perfect and she had been complication-free. Prior to the midwife entering the room, Amy and I both noticed that her ankles were more swollen than normal; we both thought that it was because her legs had been hanging off of the exam table…we were wrong. Amy’s blood-pressure was high, she had edema in her feet, ankles and hands, and had developed a bladder infection. On September 1, she was put on bedrest and told to take it easy.
We both thought, “Well, at least these are manageable, treatable complications.” Treatment following this diagnosis included bedrest, 4 non-stress tests, multiple office visits, and did I mention bedrest…lots of it. Then, Amy went in for an ultrasound at 39 weeks to make sure that Sam had plenty of amniotic fluid and that he was developing well. The ultrasound technician noted that Sam was in a frank breech position. We had a visit scheduled with the OB for the following week, so we read up on breech babies as much as any human possibly can. We were prepared for anything that he might throw at us. Keep in mind that Amy was not able to do the normal home remedies for breech babies (i.e. incline board) because of her blood pressure. We were not prepared for what he told us: Sam had turned himself back around!!!!
We were surprised at the patience the doctor and midwives had with Amy’s high blood pressure. We were sure at the old doctor’s office that Amy would have been induced before her due date for the blood pressure. But Dr. Bowen’s office felt that bedrest and monitoring were adequate, and that we should see if Amy would naturally go in to labor.
We hit 40 weeks, and then 41 weeks, and by then, we had both concluded that Amy would have to be induced at the end of 42 weeks. She had been experiencing some contractions in the evenings for the last week, but they usually went away after exercise, eating, etc.
On the 2nd day of the 42nd week, Amy was still having contractions about 5-10 minutes apart for about 20-30 seconds. They were not very intense and were not gaining any intensity. Jon (the dad) went to the store to get some food that they needed for the week. When he got back at 6:00p, Amy informed him that her contraction had changed drastically in the past 40 minutes. They were now 2 minutes apart and 30-60 seconds long. We called our doula, Maren, and she gave us some good advice. She had to teach the last lesson in a birthing class from 7:00pm to 9:00pm, but said that if we needed her she would come. Amy felt that nothing would happen until at least 9:00pm (heck, we didn’t even think she was in labor), so Maren went to teach the class.
Over the course of the next 2 hours, her contractions increased in intensity. She used pelvic rocks, tub soaking, light walking, and swaying to help relieve the tension. When we did call Maren after her class, she felt that she should come to the house because Amy was in labor. We called our doctor (Dr. Bowen was on-call), and he told us that when we felt the need to go to the hospital, that we should call him. We still felt that Amy was not in labor and were even talking about the fact that our payment to Maren only included one false labor visit.
When Maren arrived at 10:30pm, Amy was starting to contract even harder and was not even able to talk during contractions. Amy asked Maren when we should go to the hospital. Maren replied, “Normal people would have gone hours ago!”
Since we are not normal, we continued to debate when we should go. Maren explained that it is not an exact science and that you really need to rely on your instincts. Amy felt that she did not want to endure a car ride with contractions any stronger than the ones that she was experiencing right then, so we decided to leave.
On the way to the hospital, Amy’s contractions continued to increase in intensity, but she did get a slightly longer period of rest in between. It was raining very heavily on our way to the hospital because the remnants of Hurricane Rita were going through Cincinnati. Since Amy’s contractions were so strong, her concentration had to be centered on them the entire ride there. We talked about the fact that she may still only be 1 cm dilated (which she was at her last appointment) and that they may want to augment her labor with Pitocin or even send us home. She did not even want any music on. She also had the air conditioning on 65° with the blower turned ALL the way up!
We arrived at the hospital at about 11:45pm. Amy had to go to the bathroom (and Maren followed to help her if needed), so Jon checked in at the desk. Amy showed her determination from the get-go by refusing a wheelchair upon check-in.
On the way up, Amy had to stop and lean against the railing 3 or 4 times because she was contracting. We arrived on the fourth floor; this is where the Family Birthing Center is located. They took us straight into Birthing Suite #3 instead of Triage; they must have seen how far along Amy really was.
The whole time, Maren was coaching Amy on how to relax and breathe through the contractions. A nurse named Ann came in and did the triage examination on Amy. We were worried that she would say “1 cm; go home!” Instead, she announced that Amy was 5-6 cm dilated and 90% effaced!! Amy actually laughed and cheered at that, and was glad there was no going home now. However, her blood pressure was 150/95. Sam’s heart rate and its reactions to Amy’s contractions were great. In fact, he was fine the entire time. Our first comic relief of the evening came when Ann asked Amy when her last bowel movement was. Amy said “I had one in the lobby.” Jon made sure that Ann knew that Amy meant the bathroom in the lobby, not the lobby itself!
As soon as Amy’s initial exam was over, she got out of bed and rocked on a birthing ball in between contractions. She would stand when the contractions were coming and sway while leaning against the hospital bed (which had been raised up and straightened out). By this time, Amy had lost all modesty and was completely naked. Jon’s job was to keep the three washcloths cooled down in ice water. She was so hot, that she would warm up an icy washcloth in about 3 minutes. She had one on her forehead, one on the back of her neck, and one in the ice water.
A couple of minutes later, Amy’s labor and delivery nurse, Amanda, came in. She was staying with us for the rest of the labor and delivery. She was so attentive and caring that we will never forget her. At on point, the doctor had requested a 15 minute monitor tape of the baby’s heart rate. However, Amy was swaying so much that the monitor strap wouldn’t stay in place. So, Amanda squatted down behind Amy and held the monitor in place with her hand while swaying with her.
After a particularly strong and hard contraction (at about 1:00am), Amanda asked Amy to get on the bed so that she could check her. Amy had progressed to a little more than 8 cm dilated (with no cervix on one side) and 95% effaced. She had to quickly get out of bed as another strong contraction hit her.
For the next 30 minutes, Amy contracted virtually nonstop. Maren continually coached her on proper breathing (“breath deep to get oxygen for you and Sam”) and vocalizing (“low and long”). Amanda checked Amy twice during this time and it was obvious by the look on her face (and the fact that she had her hand between Amy’s knees) that Amy was ready! Sam’s head had almost crowned while Amy was standing there. Amanda had commented that Sam’s head was “right there”. They had summoned the doctor to the hospital, but because of the rainstorm, he was traveling slower than normal. Amy was very nice to Jon the entire evening. The only time that she cursed the entire time was when she asked “Where the hell is the doctor?” The second and third comic moments came around this time as well; they were setting up the delivery cart with all of the instruments behind the privacy curtain. A sound much like a bottle cork popping was heard in the room. Apparently, it was a tube holding some kind of instrument. In a raspy, strained voice, Amy asked “Is that the celebratory champagne?” Amy also said, “All I need is a little break.” Amanda replied, “You’ll have one very soon because you are going to have a baby sooner than you think!”
At about 1:50am, Amy asked “Am I in transition?” Maren and Amanda both laughed and Maren explained “You are well past that, honey!” Amanda kept looking back at Ann and another nurse who had come in at Amanda’s request; she was concerned about being the only nurse in the room when Amy could deliver without the doctor.
Finally, the doctor arrived and (in Jon’s opinion) took his sweet time putting on his scrubs. He explained later that he had endured a LONG day at another hospital; not delivering a baby, but in the ER with his son who had broken his clavicle playing soccer.
It was finally time for little Sam to be born! Amy got onto the bed in a semi-sitting position to give birth. When she pushed for the first time, it looked like a transparent head crowned. The doctor explained that Sam may be born “In the Caul,” or born still in the amniotic sac. That is what was crowning! Her waters did eventually break when the doctor was performing perineal massage to help avoid an episiotomy. They also used warm compresses on Amy’s bottom, which helped.
Maren did a great job with the coaching for the pushing. At first, Amy had a hard time pushing right. Maren told her to hold her breath while she was pushing, and that worked. Maren reminded her, you only have to push Sam to the end of the bed, not across the room! With little pushes for this, there was less chance of Amy tearing.
What seemed like seconds later, but was in fact 30 minutes after she started pushing (she only pushed 5 or 6 times), little Sam’s head came out, and almost immediately, his little body followed. At 2:55am on September 26th, 2005, little Sam was finally here. The first thing Amy said was “I feel so much better.” The next thing was “He’s so little.” We thought because Sam was 10 days post date, that he would be 10 pounds. He was 7 pounds even, and 21 inches long. He’s our “Little Man”, and our “Peanut”.
Sam was born with a nuchal cord. That is, it was wrapped around his neck once. After the doctor got the cord from around his neck, he was immediately placed on Amy’s chest where he nursed until his little cord stopped pulsing. It was so neat to feel the blood pulse through the cord. Jon cut the cord and the rest is history. Maren stayed for several hours to help us get things together. She was wonderful! I don’t know if we could have done this without her.
We never encountered any problem with our birth plan (attached) being followed. Amy only took 2 ibuprofen to help with the pain of a small 2nd degree tear as a result of Sam being born in a compound presentation (with his hand by his head).
Amy’s decision to birth Sam without medication was one of the best decisions that she has ever made. Just take a look at these wide-open eyes just minutes after birth.
All that we went through was so worth it; don’t you agree?
Once you get to the top, the trail turns north and starts to descend through a hillside of 
Amy and Sam on the banks of the Little River at the Metcalf Bottoms Picnic Area
Cades Cove Road
Cades Cove Road
Jon BARELY fitting in the camper shower...that is my head IN the skylight.