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!!

Going Home

SATURDAY 5/8

Saturday morning the pediatrician came in and asked us why Ellie was still in the phototherapy box, Sam and I looked at each other and told her we didn't know that she could come out. We immediately took her out so we could snuggle with her while the Dr. worked on getting her unplugged from everything. Our nurse started working on the discharge paperwork immediately and Sam and I started packing everything up and getting ready to go home!! As we were walking out I kept expecting them to come running after me telling me they had made a mistake and would have to take her back. Ellie was awake the whole ride home and was looking at everything she could.

Ellie's Stay in the Phototherapy box

FRIDAY 5/7
So after being admitted to pediatrics at 11pm on Thursday Sam and I were exhausted and set our alarms so we could wake up every 2 hours to feed Ellie in order to flush the Bilirunin out of her system as quickly as possible and without the aid of an IV. That day Ellie had blood taken every 8 hours to monitor her levels and when we found out at about 7:00am that we would be there another day we called Kathy (Sam's mom) to have her come sit with Ellie while we went home, showered and got clean clothes . We had to rush since the Occupational Therapist was due to visit Ellie and check out her sucking skills to ensure she was able to eat properly. Even though it was quick it was one of the best showers I ever took! We got back to the hospital moments after the Occupational Therapist came into to check on Ellie, she informed us that Ellie was feeding like a premie but other than that was fine, that was a relief.
My parents and grandma came that evening so that Sam and I could go to dinner it was nice but we really wanted to get back to our little girl by the time we were done eating. When we got back to the hospital the nurse told us that Ellie's levels were down and we should be able to go home on Saturday, we were so excited!!!

Ellie's first days

WEDNESDAY 5-5
So we were in postpartum, thinking that we may go home in the evening or possibly Thursday morning. We were so ready to bring Ellie home and get settled into a routine. We had lots of visitors throughout the day and caught cat-naps when we could. Since they hadn't done Ellie's test for jaundice we knew we would be there until Thursday.

THURSDAY 5-6
In the morning when the nurse practitioner came to check on Ellie she told us that her Bilirubin levels were too high and she would have to be taken to the NICU as soon as a bed became available. They were also concerned with her eating so they checked her blood sugar levels on about every 4 hours. Finally at about 8:00pm they let us know that there was no room in the NICU so I would be discharged and you would be admitted to pediatrics so Ellie could spend some time in the phototherapy box. I was a little relieved since Sam and I would be able to go with Ellie to her room in pediatrics rather than having to take turns visiting her in NICU. I was officially discharged at around 11pm and all the nurses in pediatrics made such a fuss over Ellie and how cute she was. I was able to convince the doctors to wait on giving Ellie an IV for fluids by telling them my plan to pump, feed and then supplement with formula to keep her system moving and expelling the excess bilirubin.

Elisabeth Marie Sager Has Arrived!

So the Sager's are now officially a blogging family, mainly to keep everyone informed on the happenings of our newest family member. Here is the first part of her story (sorry it is rather detailed for some of my friends please don't get offended if it is TMI for you)...
May 4th, after timing my contractions for an hour (3-5 minutes apart) I called Kaiser, they told me to come in and I called Sam to come home. I loaded up the car and as soon as he was home we were off, after check (@12:00) in I saw the midwife she checked and was just about to say that I was only at 4cm and send me home. My body had other plans and my water broke, leading me to be admitted.
I was put in a Labor, Delivery, recovery room(@1:30). Wayne (Sam's dad, who works at Kaiser Fontana) had essentially taken off for the day so he hung out, next joined by Kathy (Sam's mom) and my parents. Everything was progressing nicely, I was 100% effaced when admitted and was dialating about 1cm an hour. After about 2 hours I was given an IV for pain, which only made me drowsy and feel drugged...I felt the contractions still too, so I opted for the epidural (@4:45).
It was a great distraction for me to have the family there as I was kept amused by there antics.
Once I was 9cm, the family left (@7:30) and I started pushing (@8:00). After 2 hours of pushing baby had decided she did not want to come out and had still not crowned and I was given 2 options, keep pushing or using the vacuum. I opted for the vacuum as I knew pushing would no longer be productive. The Dr. warned me that if the vacuum did not work I would have to go straight to the OR for a C-section. Luckily baby came out to be introduced without the need of the OR.
As the Dr. said "it's a girl" I was completely amazed, I had been so sure that it was going to be a boy, I wanted to ask if she was sure. Sam cut the cord and went with the nurse to make sure that everything was OK while I was stitched up (5 stitches-3rd degree tear for those moms out there). Once Ellie was checked out Sam and I got some uninterrupted time with her before the grandparents were able to come in. When we were ready for the grandparents to come meet her, Ellie got her shots and eye goop so she was set to be moved to our postpartum room.
Before Sam went out to tell the parents he sent a text that said "we have a baby" they were all dying to know if this was Elisabeth or Atticus. Once he went out to the waiting room he was almost attacked by all four grandparents, (Sam will add the rest of the story later).
There were many tears in the room as each grandparent was introduced to Ellie and held her for a while before they helped us move to our new room (@11:45)