Sisters Give Birth Same Day at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center Laguna Hills

Contact: Theresa Pointon 949/525-2324

Laguna Hills, CA: Sisters Rachel McDaniel and Sarah Mattson both gave birth for the first time July 18 at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center Women’s Hospital. Within hours of witnessing the birth of her nephew Grayson McDaniel, Mattson gave birth to daughter Sage.

Nineteen months apart in age and married within a year of each other, the sisters look forward to shared family birthday and Mothers Day celebrations with new dads Andy McDaniel and J.P. Mattson and proud grandparents Rebekah and Enoch Fernando. Coincidentally, J.P.’s brother and sister-in-law had a baby boy that same day in Wisconsin, making the Fernandos and Mattsons double grandparents each with a new grandson and granddaughter having the same birthdates.

Saddleback Memorial Medical Center’s Women’s Hospital, the only women’s hospital in south Orange County, is the birthplace of over 50,000 babies. Its team of highly trained obstetricians, pediatricians and other specialists are sensitive to needs of new mothers and babies, and committed to providing high levels of care. Services include prenatal and post-delivery classes and private labor, delivery and recovery suites. Of the 3,000 babies delivered annually, about 10 percent are high-risk births and high-risk multiples referred from throughout Orange County and surrounding communities. In the last two decades, Saddleback Memorial delivered 1,134 set of twins, 130 sets of triplets and 15 sets of quadruplets.

Saddleback Memorial witnessed several historic birthing events in recent years. These include birth of a 14 pound, 2 ounce baby in 2008; birth of the first U.S. baby conceived by means of frozen sperm and a frozen egg in 2007; and a 54-year-old grandmother who in 2006 served as surrogate mother for her daughter and son-in-law after the couple suffered several miscarriages.

Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills and San Clemente has been nationally recognized by Thomson Reuters as a “Top 100 Hospital” and named among the nation’s “65 Great Community Hospitals” by Becker’s Hospital Review. In addition to 24-hour emergency care, Saddleback Memorial offers comprehensive services, with centers of excellence in cardiac, cancer, women’s health and critical care and an array of inpatient and outpatient surgical services. Saddleback Memorial is part of MemorialCare Health System with six not-for-profit, community-based medical centers in Orange and Los Angeles counties, plus MemorialCare HealthExpress convenient walk-in clinics at select ALBERTSONS/Sav-on Pharmacy locations in Orange County. For information, visit memorialcare.org/saddleback.