Lil Bit is OK

A couple nights ago, me and Lil Bit got into a minor car accident. Before I go any further, let me just go ahead and say that we are both doing fine and the baby is perfectly healthy and unharmed. 

I was sitting about 10 cars back at a stop light when all of a sudden I heard a loud screeching noise and I was rear ended, which caused my car to rear end the car in front of me, which caused that car to bump into the car in front of them. I immediately felt blood running down my face and onto my blouse. I happened to have a few bagfuls of clothes I was planning to donate to Goodwill in my passenger's seat, so I reached in there and grabbed the first thing I could find - a cotton J. Crew tote bag - and pressed it to my face. It all happened so quickly that I couldn't even tell you what I hit my head on and I don't remember if belly hit anything, but at that point, that was my biggest concern. I reached for my cell phone and called John crying and telling him that I'd just gotten into a car accident right on Southside Blvd and that I didn't really know what to do. He was there within a couple of minutes. I had a high school teacher once tell me that a majority of car accidents happen within a mile from where you live. Well, he was certainly right about that - all four of us that were involved in the car accident were literally only a mile away from home. 

The other drivers came to check on me and were all shocked to see all the blood on my face and on the front of my shirt, and then even more shocked to see that I was pregnant. Even though it was obvious, the first thing I said was, "I'm pregnant. Is he going to be ok?" And boy, I was just balling. The woman in the car in front of me was incredibly sweet and hugged me and said everything was going to be fine. At that point, John was there and I finally got out of the car. This was the first moment I got a look at the person who hit me - a 19-year-old girl who was crying and saying that her "dad was going to kill her." She apologized profusely, even giving me a hug at one point, and she looked highly upset. And I thought, "Good, you should feel bad." And I know it's stereotyping, but based on her age, I have no doubt this girl was texting on her phone or simply not paying attention when she hit my car. I mean, I was completely stopped - it's not like I had slammed on my brakes and not given her enough time to stop. So I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity to say, "DON'T TEXT AND DRIVE!" Seriously, that is one of my BIGGEST pet peeves. And it's not just the texting - dialing a number or even checking a text while driving is stupid. Just freakin' wait 'til you get to a stop light at least!!! I mean, seriously, no text is that important. A majority of people are not even doctors that are receiving urgent messages anyway. And even then, you should still wait! 

Anyway, back to my story. The ambulance came to check my vital signs, but I was more concerned with the baby. Unfortunately, they didn't have anything to check the baby and said I would just have to go to the hospital. So this is where John and I start to get frustrated and confused. The ambulance was willing to take me to the hospital of course, but they said I couldn't just leave my car there without talking to the police first, who hadn't arrived yet! I seriously did not want to wait around there any longer, wondering about my baby. Maybe I was being overly dramatic, but I hadn't felt him move that whole time, it was my first car accident, and I'm a first-time mother. Of course I was paranoid and I wanted to make sure everything was ok. At that point, John decided to call his aunt, who lives only a few miles away, to come pick me up and take me to the ER, while he waited by my car to talk to the police. John was so wonderful during this whole time. He definitely handles these situations a lot better than me. He talked to the police, called my doctor, and has been handling all the insurance phone calls, all while comforting me and helping me feel better. 

When I got to the ER, they wheeled me over to labor and delivery, where the nurse hooked me up to a monitor. Finally, the heartbeat...the most wonderful sound in the world. I immediately felt better...and I immediately started crying. It was just SUCH a relief at that point. I mean, probably an hour had passed since the accident happened, and I still hadn't felt him move. So I was so happy to be listening to his heartbeat. The nurse told me that I would have to stay for a few hours so they could monitor me and then they would take me back to the ER so they could check out the gash above my eye. During that time, the nurse pointed to the monitor and pointed out that I was having contractions. This was really surprising to me because I hadn't really felt anything different, but then again, I'm still confused about what contractions will feel like, so maybe I have felt them, but didn't know that was it. Anyway, she performed a quick vaginal exam to make sure there was no bleeding and that everything was ok. She said it was a good sign that my belly was still soft because if it were hard, that would have been a sign that my belly was probably full of blood from the baby. Honestly, if that had happened, I would have totally lost it. So again, I was relieved that the baby was doing well. She said I was probably only half a centimeter dilated, but they wanted to keep me around just in case. At that point, John had arrived and we sat for about three hours, watching TV and talking. We hadn't eaten dinner yet, so John ordered a pizza, although I wasn't allowed to eat anything (I just had orange juice). It was a very long and boring night and we joked that this was a preview for what labor will be like - just waiting around in the hospital room. But it was still great to be able to listen to the baby's heartbeat for three hours. At one point, I started to think, "What if the baby was already born and sitting in the back in his car seat when I was rear ended?" And I immediately started crying again (I was just an emotional wreck that night). I mean, right now he's all safely cushioned inside my belly, but my protective mama bear instincts are starting to kick in. So again, this is where John is so wonderful - he immediately comforted me and made me feel better about everything.

At 11:30 pm, they let us go down to the ER, where they could check my eye. At this point, I decided to call into work to let them know I wasn't coming in the next day. When it became clear that we would be doing a lot more waiting in the ER, I made John call into work as well. I wasn't going to let him sleep for only a couple hours (we didn't leave the ER until 2 am) and then have to go into work - he'd been through a lot of stress as well that night.  When I was finally seen, they told me they could clean up the cut and put glue on it to hold the skin together. I asked if this would help prevent any scarring and they said unfortunately, there still might be a scar. And being the vain person that I am, I immediately thought, "Great, right when I'm about to give birth and there'll be lots of pictures involved." Oh well, nothing a little makeup can't fix. And honestly, it doesn't look that bad at all. I think it's healing up quite nicely.

On the way to the hospital, John's aunt gave me some baby wipes so I could clean as much blood off my face as I could. 

In the ER, they cleaned it some more with some hydrogen peroxide.

Here's what it looked like after they glued my skin together. They said it would eventually peel off after a few days, kinda like a scab.

Here's what it looks like three days later. Again, I think it's healing nicely. And you probably can't tell from this picture, but the skin beneath my eye is actually all black and blue. Looks like I'll be piling on the concealer for the next few days!

The damage to my car doesn't look that bad, but it doesn't look that good either.

When my car hit the car in front of me, the Toyota emblem popped right off.

I'm feeling really good today. Honestly, I'm just so relieved that everything is OK with the baby. But I still can't believe that I've been driving this car for 12 years and not once have I even gotten into so much as a fender-bender, and then two weeks before I'm due to give birth, this happens (a mile from my home no less). Oh well, they say things happen for a reason, right? Anyway, me, Lil Bit, and John are doing OK - we were all just a little shaken up from what happened, but we are so happy now that our baby is doing just fine.