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Car Accident (Whining/Venting/Very Long)
I was driving home from the grocery store and picking up lunch yesterday, going straight on a road near my house, when a car traveling from the opposite direction turned at the intersection that I was entering. I saw her, laid on my horn and the brake, but it was too late - she was directly in front of me and there was nowhere to go. I T-boned her front passenger side. As the airbag deployed, all I could think was "not again."
When the car came to a stop I knew that I needed to get out ASAP, but wasn't sure if I could move. I had to sit for a second and take stock of where I was and what I could move, which thankfully, was everything. I turned the engine off, unbuckled, and got over to the median to sit down. The other drive was a bit older (I later learned that she's in her 50s) and had two children in the car - about 12 years old. We all asked if the others were okay, and some bystanders stopped to make phone calls and see if we were okay. No one who stopped had witnessed the accident. The people who had just kept going.
I beg: If you ever witness an accident, please stay to give a statement.
It seemed to take forever for fire and police to arrive, but I'm sure it really wasn't that long. When they learned that I was pregnant, they asked the other driver if she minded me going in the first ambulance, to which she agreed. I'd called E to tell him what happened and had him call one of our closest friends to have her come get him and M. That car was our only car and I knew that, if nothing else, I'd need a ride home from the hospital.
The paramedics commented that I was supremely calm, which was a thin thread of control that I lost when E finally walked into my ER room... but I held on for a long time. My temperature and BP were slightly elevated, and I had bruising forming already, plus my right hand felt really effed up from catching the full force of the airbag deploying (because I was laying on the horn). I was in the ER for 6 1/2 hours, during which time they took X-rays of my hand and right knee (swollen and sore, on both accounts, but nothing broken), monitored my BP (it stabilized quickly), and checked for fetal heartbeat (fine).
I begged for food and drink, having not eaten a single thing all day and having only had a stupid Slurpee around noon, but was denied any and everything. I got lightheaded on more than one occasion and being dehydrated made me an even harder blood draw than I usually am, which is pretty hard. They stuck me on two different occasions than removed the line because I "wouldn't need it anymore".
Then they sent me to Labor and Delivery for fetal monitoring, concerned about potential placental abruption, where I was told I'd need another line and I'd have to stay overnight. I lost it. Cried a ton, desperately wanted to go home, desperately wanted my daughter and my husband and my bed and my cats. But I knew that I couldn't risk something happened to the baby, so I stayed.
It was a really, really long night. I had a terrible time getting and staying comfortable, I was on a clear liquids-only diet, the fetal monitor kept slipping and I was so bruised that every time they adjusted the monitor, I wanted to punch them. They put leg cuffs on me for fear of blood clots and after a few hours I took them off and refused to put them back on. After 12 hours of the fetal monitors and the doctor confirming that the baby was fine, I took those off and refused to put them back on. And after a bag of IV fluids (given because the urine sample I'd provided 8 hours prior showed that I was dehydrated - why the eff did it take so long to put me on fluids?!) I said that I didn't care if I was still dehydrated, the IV was coming out and I was going home.
I'm a stellar patient.
M spent the night at our friends' house, E stayed with me, and the same friend who'd brought him to the hospital (and who M stayed with) picked E and I up and took us home. Thank goodness for good friends nearby!
We got home shortly after lunchtime and made the phone calls to the insurance company (the other driver is at fault, per the accident report, because she was turning), the rental car company, and my OB's office (who called back and left a message saying that I was going to be placed in a bubble from now one). I got some food, some sleep, some shower, and some love from my daughter and the cats. The latter are terribly affronted that I won't let them walk on/lie on me.
My husband is a God-send. I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for him.
I'm staying home one more day to rest up, but I'll go back to work on Wednesday. Tomorrow morning E will go get the rental, take M to school, get our personal stuff out of the (almost certainly totaled) car and sign it over to the insurance company for appraisal, then he'll go into work for a bit. Tomorrow night he'll need to go replace the groceries that have been baking in the wrecked vehicle since yesterday afternoon. Yum.
I am supremely grateful that I walked away from this accident with a healthy baby and nothing more than bruising. But I'm also so terribly frustrated to have yet another Thing that has happened. I'd love a break. I joked with my mother that I'm going to become an agoraphobic and never leave the house again, though in seriousness it may be awhile before I drive again.
Re: Car Accident (Whining/Venting/Very Long)
Oh Dani as soon as I saw your post on facebook, I got so upset. It's scary to think that you were that close to home and you were in a accident. I'm really glad that you and baby are okay.
I hear you on the hospital, I hated being stuck and then re-stuck, and the food thing is a big issue too. Obviously you get to look forward to the needles/no food in a few months.
Hope you get some needed rest today. Big hugs.
Seeing the title of your post I thought for sure it was an update to the last accident, I can't believe it happened again! Glad you and the baby are OK. Accidents are scary, I still have some lingering anxiety from the last one that I was involved in, so I don't think that I would want to leave the house either if I had been involved in 2 in a short period of time.
BFP#1: 01/10, M/C 6w -- BFP#2: 06/10, M/C 5w -- BFP#3: 09/10, DS born June 1, 2011
BFP#4: 07/12, M/C 5w3d -- BFP#5: 12/12, EDD 08/18/13
Decorate This
I'm glad you and LO are OK, but jeez man. ... I'd be scared to leave my house if I were you!
I hope you can stay calm and take care of yourself. Hang in there Mama!!
So glad you and baby are okay!
After my accident on my due date, I was hysterical and wouldn't even get out of the car (of course that was on 695, getting out may have been more dangerous than the actual accident.) I still get major anxiety driving or riding in a car on a highway bc I keep thinking "that car could hit us. That car could. THAT one could." I hope it passes..
Thanks so much, everyone.
I'm having a really rough time with this one, and just feeling really beaten down. I'm trying to remind myself that it could all be worse and I'm trying to focus on the overwhelming gratitude that our baby is okay, but it's a serious struggle. I'm annoyed with myself for, for lack of a better term, wallowing. We went to the tow yard and saw the car today (I saw it from the side at the scene, but based on experience from the last accident, didn't look at all of the damage then and there - it was a shock), and when I came home I walked in the house, sat down, and had a panic attack. I feel like a total mess.
But. I really am glad to be okay. And logically I know we'll deal with the rest of the mess in due time.
I know its all super fresh, but you might want to talk to someone, kwim?
Alot of very stressful stuff going on right now - some expected, some very unexpected.
I am so sorry to hear about all this. What a scary thing to happen. I went through the same while pregnant with Devyn but had a abruption of the placenta (which luckily healed itself after 3 days in the hospital).
It's a really scary thing and I am so glad to hear that you and the baby are fine.
It really seems like if there is one thing, there are more
Darn Murphy's law
Oh Jenni, I'm so sorry you went through that. It must have been so scary! Thank goodness the abruption healed itself. That was what they had me on watch for, and why I was there overnight, but thankfully we dodged that bullet.
As if you haven't heard it enough...hang in there. Glad everything is okay and when things start to align and be perfect again, you'll look back on this period of your life and it'll seem small. Hugs.
Becky- I was the same way when I was rear-ended at a red light. I still have a slight fear and watch my rearview when I'm stopped, but the fear does go away.
Dani- When I saw this on FB, I was so sad for you! I'm so glad you are ok!!
DE IVF #1= 04/11 - BFP
miscarriage on 11/26/09 at 5w6d