Welcome Coraline Joan Sager

On Friday, February 28th I had my regular NST appointment, at which I was having non-painful contractions 3-7 minutes apart. I mentioned to the nurse that Sam was in Sacramento, accepting our school's Schools to Watch award, a huge honor, and that he would be home on Sunday. She told me to drink lots of water and that she would see me Monday. I went home and plowed through water and sat on the couch and the contractions subsided. I called Sam and filled him in and we decided that he should catch an earlier flight on Saturday evening after the team's presentation. I also asked my mom to spend the night just in case. 

Sam with Serrano's Official Schools to Watch Award

Like every Friday night, my friend Glynnis came over (Sam is usually at karate) to keep me company we had dinner, watched some TLC, chatted, etc. My mom came over and helped put Ellie to bed. Around 11:00, we moved Ellie to my bed so my mom could sleep in Ellie's bed and off to bed it was.
Just as I was falling asleep, I needed to pee (the story of life for any 9 month pregnant woman). As I sat up, I realized that it wasn't needing to pee, and rushed onto the tile, so much for water and rest, this baby was in it's way! (This was at 11:30) I put a towel between my legs and penguin walked down the hall to let me mom know, she called my dad to meet us at the hospital. I called Sam...no answer...waited a minute called again...then sent texts to several of the people up in Sacramento with him to see if they were with him at the time. I then called my in-laws, I could tell that my mother-in-law had been asleep because our conversation went something like this:
Me: Hi Kathy, my water just broke
Kathy: Oh my, do you want us to meet you at the hospital?
Me: No, I need someone to stay with Ellie, do you think Julie could come over, or Wayne could stay with her?
Kathy: Sure, are you going to head to the hospital now?
Me: No, I have to stay here until there is someone to stay with Ellie.
After reaching my in-laws I tried calling Sam again...no answer. So I called our friend Anna who was up in Sacramento with Sam. The first words out of her mouth were "Are you having a baby friend?" As soon as I said yes she passed the phone to Sam. He would go up and pack and get the first flight to Ontario that he could.

Luckily, my bag was already packed so I just had to get a few things together. During all the commotion Ellie woke up and started chattering about all sorts of random things, like cat school taught by Aunt Deanna. When Wayne, Kathy and Julie got to the house we were off after several rounds of hugs and kisses from Ellie and tears (she wanted to come with me).
My saint of a sister-in-law had to endure Ellie chattering for quite a bit longer...and she not only stayed with Ellie for the night but then took her over to my in-laws for the day.
Anyway, we got to Kaiser Fontana at about 12:30, I got into Labor and Delivery and then sat with my mom and waited to be processed while the other three parents were in the waiting room. A Dr. finally checked my progress at around 1:30ish and I was 4cm dilated 90% effaced.
Unfortunately none of the nurses on duty that night were comfortable accessing my port, so my IV had to go into my hand. One of the nasty things about Chemo is that it makes your veins very sensitive, so the first try was a bust (literally, my vein blew) so was the second, so the nurses called anesthesia to place my line. As the anesthesiologist left, he said "see you in a bit for your epidural" (I should have taken that as a bad sign...just like saying good luck to an actor before a performance) All this was done by 2:30 and we left for a labor and delivery room at 2:40. This whole time my contractions were strong and steady. As we got into the Labor and Delivery room and they had me switch beds a doozy of a contraction hit. I was literally half-way on each bed unable to move. I made it on the the L&D bed, the Dr.s came in and I was now 9cm dilated and they could see baby's head. This meant no epidural...and that it was already time to start pushing.  ***On that note unless you can guarantee that you won't be pushing for more than 10 minutes, I highly recommend getting the epidural!*** At 3:07, Coraline made her debut into the world, my mom got to cut the cord and announce to Sam and the other waiting grandparents that Cora was here.

Introducing Coraline Joan Sager
Born 3/1/14 3:07 am
7lbs, 21inches

After I was all stitched up and settled into the L&D room (about 4:00) the other 3 grandparents came in to meet the newest Sager family member. Poor Sam was still waiting in the airport. As soon as the airport in Sacramento opened, Sam was first in line and was able to get on the first flight to Ontario which left at 7:20 and arrived at 8:35. 

I was moved to a regular room at about 7:30 and my mom stayed with me until Sam got in at 9:15, he was one proud daddy!!