Yesterday morning around 10:30AM, I was in a very serious car accident. I'm not eager to relive the gory details just yet, but long story short, I got trapped in my car, locked in with smoke and chemicals pouring in from the airbags deploying. It was, by FAR, the scariest thing to ever happen in my life.
I was taken to the hospital at the suggestion of my OB, Dr. R, and the people at Seton Medical Center on 38th Street were fantastic. Nicest hospital staff I've ever come into contact with! I was having some severe left-side abdominal (not uterine!) pain when I arrived, so they drew some blood, set up an IV 'just in case' (is there anything scarier than them preparing for just in case when you're pregnant and in the hospital?!), and took my blood pressure in every position about 100 times. All looked good, but they consulted a radiologist for fear that the pain on my left side was my spleen having ruptured, and since I couldn't have a CT Scan due to my pregnant state, they took me up for an abdominal u/s. All checked out OK, and they only instructed me to keep an eye on the pain, and if it got suddenly worse to come back in, because sometimes they rupture after the fact. Conclusion: my abdominal wall just hurt like hell from the impact/airbag/seatbelt combo...the latter two most likely saving my life - so I can take a little pain, no problem. I am, however, really missing pain pills like hell right now!
The good thing to come of it was that we got a nice, long look at baby, who is looking big and quite cramped in there already! Heartbeat was nice and strong (the world's nicest nurse, Jane, checked the heartbeat for me before she even drew blood or anything else, so we knew little one was alive), and baby was squirming around everywhere, annoyed with my sonographer! I must say, he/she is very beautiful :) I cried through most of it, since all the fear and insecurity and doubt I had been feeling lately melted away when I thought I could have lost him or her. It was so nice to get a peek at baby.
...Of course, since I was there looking pathetic and banged up and sobbing like a little girl, I figured now was the time to 'work' this look and ask about the baby's sex! The sonographer obliged me, and looked for like 10 MINUTES, and there is NO PENIS. However, he said that, "..just because there is nothing between the legs, doesn't mean it will stay that way." Hmm..doubtful. It's my understanding that if a baby is going to have a penis, HE does at 16 weeks. I know the absence of a P doesn't guarantee a V is there, but I'm thinking girl. It remains to be seen for sure, though, so let's not get our hopes up (or down, in some cases) yet!
I am sore as hell this morning, as I knew I would be, but trying to plug along, and figure out a few things now. My car is...well, let's just say I'm not quite sure it's fate. It's either damn close to totaled, or just barely totaled. It remains to be seen. I will say this, though: I was just getting hell for my choice of a large SUV as a single girl the other day, asked why I didn't '..trade that beast in and get a sports car or something.' While to his credit, he didn't know I was pregnant, I can reply this with confidence: That car, that gas-guzzling, obnoxious, 8-seater SUV? He saved my life yesterday, and the life of my child. Had I been in a little Kia, or Honda, or God forbid a Smart car (not so smart in this occasion, eh?), I feel certain that at least one of us would not be here. My Expedition is durable to a fault - I can take out others, but they can't touch me. I have NEVER seen it get so much as a scratch in a collision, which means that the impact was severe and just-right to make the front crumble in like that, and in a car, would've been so much worse. While I've been wanting a smaller vehicle to save on gas, insurance, etc., the irony of the situation is that if my car is totaled, and I have to buy a new car, I won't be buying a car. Our lives are far more important than saving a bit on gas money, especially with a baby in the car. The second two rows escaped unscaithed, and though I hate paying for nearly 30 gallons of gas a week, had my baby been in that car, he/she would've been just fine, if a little scared.
So thank you, Charlie, my beloved car. I hope you make it out alive, since I feel so fond of you just now, though I am terrified to get behind the wheel again before kiddo arrives, though I have to. If you don't, though, thanks for giving up your life for ours. And thank you, God, because it all could've ended SO very differently. Thanks for having our back :)
I promise to never take my baby or my life for granted ever, EVER again. And all of you shouldn't either! Life is so much more fragile than we give it credit for!
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