Well, we're here in North Carolina residing with my in-laws while our house is being finished. So far it's been a smooth transition. Sloane's been great and it's nice having help. We moved down when I was 37 weeks pregnant. My due date was November 16 (last friday). My mother in law and I took Sloane to the mall and shopped and walked and shopped some more. It's kind of a tradition now, for us to walk the baby out on my due date. Didn't work with Sloane so I was skeptical. Then the contractions started at about 2am.
By 5am I was having contractions about 6 minutes apart and couldn't sleep so I told Brandon and went downstairs to wait it out. My in-laws took Sloane to breakfast while Brandon and I sat waiting for labor to intensify before heading into the hospital. We packed up the car, Brandon went to get breakfast, and we sat down to watch "Happiest Baby on the Block" to get a refresher on the swaddle. All of a sudden we noticed we couldn't find Rosie (our English Bulldog). We figured she was just hanging out upstairs or outside. Not upstairs and when we went outside she was no where to be found. Now Rosie isn't one to wonder. She goes outside, does her business, and unless one of us is outside with her she runs right back in. So we started around the house yelling for her. I was starting to get scared… Behind the McCraney's house is a large pasture with cows, and woods. in front was a busy road. Neither one was a good situation.
Brandons parents pulled up as we were yelling for Rosie. So I went inside to wait out labor while Brandon and his dad went looking for Rosie. They looked everywhere. 3 hours of looking for the dog and nothing came up. I was hysterical and now threatening not to go to the hospital until the dog was found. Poor Brandon. He was wandering around, looking in places we'd already looked and then he popped the trunk of his car to get something out of one of our hospital bags. He ran in and said he'd found her… I thought he was joking. Nope, when he popped the trunk, her little face poked through our luggage and there she was, in the trunk of our Audi A4, behind all our bags… she'd hopped in as he was packing the car (she gets anxious when she thinks we're leaving her) rode all the way to get breakfast and sat in there for 3 hours. She was shaking like a leaf. We were ecstatic! Now I could concentrate on labor. I promptly went inside and call the doctor. Contractions were now 4 minutes apart. As I was waiting for the nurse to call me back to let me know if I could come in yet or not, my water broke. Actually, that's an understatement. I exploded all over Brandon's dad's favorite chair. I wouldn't have felt so bad but I had joked earlier in the week that, "wouldn't it be funny if my water broke in this chair?" because I love that chair.
I stood in the kitchen soaking wet and while Brandon ran to get me all new clothes (even my socks were wet). The nurse called back and said to come in… no kidding. As we ventured into Charlotte my contractions were now 2 minutes apart. I was really nervous. We were 45 minutes from the hospital and I wasn't sure we'd make it. We pulled in, got out and headed in and wait for it… stood in line. "Are you kidding me?"
I may have cursed out about 5 people at the front desk waiting for someone to get me up to the Maternity floor. We finally made it. I got to the hospital at 7 centimeters but they promised me they could still do the epidural. They definitely delivered. It was a much more intense labor than I had with Sloane. The epidural finally kicked in and I was comfortable. About 2 1/2 hours after arriving at the hospital it was time to push. I pushed for 17 minutes, (3 sets of 3) and she was out. We had another beautiful baby girl. Reese Alexandra MeCraney was born November 17, at 5:49pm. She weighed 7lbs. 2oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long. Almost exactly the same size as Sloane. The one noticeable difference were her two adorable dimples.
We're now home and trying to adjust to life with 2 under 2. Sloane's been wonderful and loves her sister. Reese is such a different baby than Sloane. I can't wait to see the differences as they both grow up. She's a vocal one, with super long fingers and toes. I call her my little bird. I was so lucky that my mom could come down and spend Thanksgiving with us. I'm also blessed to have built in help for a while. Heck, even when we move to Raleigh we'll have so many friends around us, not to mention Auntie Ashley down the road. We're really lucky to be starting this new chapter in our lives. Brandon graduates from Harvard in 4 weeks, we get our house in 5 weeks, and I get to spend more than a week in Ohio with my family this year for the holidays.
Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and a very Happy New Year!
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