Car Accident and Easter Weekend.

Alright, so I figured I'd better post here before I don't want to anymore. For those who have somehow not heard, Stu, Kaden and I got into a car accident on Wednesday of last week. We had just finished eating dinner and Kaden was a really good boy and ate all of his vegetables so we decided to go get ice cream real quick at Dairy Queen. Kaden wanted to take "Aunt Mommy's Car" (yeah, apparently we have had too many aunts around lately, as I've suddenly become one, lol) but I wasn't feeling like it and Daddy wanted to drive so we opted to take his truck instead (thank God).

We were barely a block from our house when, a few cars a ahead of us, a person was waiting to turn left across rush-hour traffic so we all came to a stop. Suddenly there was this screeching noise of brakes behind us and then "BOOM!" A guy in a three-quarter-ton suburban behind us decided NOT to brake and to plow right into us, sending us into the car in front of us, and them into the car in front of them. The guy ahead of THAT car was the one waiting to turn and he pulled off to call 911.

Wrecks are crazy. It's like your brain is on super speed because I remember EVERY detail so oddly clearly. I remember putting my hands out in front of me when I hit the dash and that I was turning my head toward the noise when he hit us (making for some KILLER whiplash a few days later, ugh). But mostly, as SOON as it happened, I turned around as fast as I could and all but shrieked, "ARE YOU OK?" to Kaden. That, of course, DID freak him out, and he started crying. I whipped off my seatbelt and jumped out to get in the back with him and check him out.

At that point, the driver of the suburban tried to jump out and talk to Stu, apologizing and saying he didn't know what happened, etc. And Stu said, "Not right now, dude. I have a kid and my wife in the car." Then he came around to my side as I opened Kaden's door to check on him (I was already crying) and he said, "Oh my God, and you're pregnant!" I jumped in back and looked at Kaden and by that time he had calmed down from Mommy's freak out and I realized he was okay, so I think my mind took over and did a mental inventory and suddenly realized I didn't feel quite right. I started shaking from the adrenaline and then started crying even harder. From the time we lived in Abu Dhabi, getting into a wreck with Kaden has ALWAYS been my worst fear. I kept thinking things like, "We almost took my Prius." And imagining what such a vehicle would have done to MY car and my baby, who was closest to the impact. (I freak out a little more.) Then I thought, "Poor truck." We've only had it for three months, and what a good little truck, the crumple zones worked perfectly and we were all okay as a result. Stu came over to me and convinced me to sit back in the truck since I was shaking really bad and I kept saying I didn't feel right.

That's about when the contractions started and I started to evaluate what had just happened. I was just hit by a vehicle going about 40 mph and slammed into another vehicle. Imagining what that had to look like inside my body, I realized that most of the force of the wreck was across my lower abdomen where my seatbelt had kept me in my seat, but where I had a bruise on my leg from it smacking into the dash along with my hands. So my growing baby took most of the force. Great. Before I had too long to process this, the ambulance arrived and Kaden told me "Iss ok, Mommy. Be happy." Sweet boy. Everyone agreed that the safest place for me at that point was in the hospital, where they could check on my and my baby and make sure all is well.

Marcia got there just as we were about to leave and rode with me in the ambulance while Stu and Kaden came in Deven's car. Talk about a long and bumpy ride! I can't imagine having a severed limb, or some sort of ailment where jarring movements would be painful, and having to take that ride.

We got there and I got hammered with questions about the wreck while they took my vitals and then the bitchy nurse stabbed me with a saline lock. Luckily, we got there right around shift change and by the time I got back from getting x-rays done, I had a new, wonderful nurse who said he could draw my blood from my IV and not have to stick me again. I could have kissed him. He was right, bless him, and got enough of my blood (like 3 gallons!) that the waiting phlebotomist just had to take it and be on his merry way (which means we got along great).

All along they kept telling me that as soon as I was checked out, they would get me up to labor and delivery, where I might possibly be kept for 4-6 hours of observation. At LEAST two hours later (I will spare you my experience) I finally made it up to L&D where I knew they'd want me to give them a urine sample. I waddled my way into the bathroom to finally be relieved when Stu announced that my dreams of a 4 hours observation were severely dashed. I came out to meet the wonderful Dr. Kilpatrick who informed me that with a wreck going that fast and with contractions and light bleeding, my butt wasn't going anywhere for at least 24 hours, possibly more. Ugh.

So we got a hold of Marcia and I got to direct her around my house over the phone describing where to find such necessities as my toothbrush and my sports bra (a dire need). I had to endure an "exam" (that's all I'll say for those squeamish types, lol) that I think I behaved very well for if I do say so myself. :) And then Stu and I got to watch our second Ultrasound, which was a million times better than the first, even with the circumstances, and she gave us some adorable new pics, including a "money shot" of our boy, which the last tech refused to give us (or even confirm that he WAS a boy).

Marcia arrived with my stuff and Stu had to say goodbye (the un-fun part about having one child at home already... no more overnight stays in the hospital together, lol). I killed time by discussing the merits of VBACs with my nurse and doctor, who informed me that I was "way too connected" when I combated all her "risks" with research. She was great and laughed and stayed with me for a long time before I finally decided I'd better call it a night. My lovely nurse produced an Ambien and I tried to sleep. I ened up getting about 5 hours total, with one interruption to move the doppler that was refusing to pick up my son's heartbeat.

The next day, Dr. Bobrowski, the head of high-risk obstetrics at St. Alphonsus, came in to talk to me about my Ultrasound. She told me I had high amniotic fluid in the Ultrasound they did the night before and that they would be doing another one to check it out. Between that time, I got on Google and did a ton of research and discovered that it is called hydramnios and that typically, fluid levels should be between 5 and 20 centimeters and that anything over 25 is considered high. I was measuring around 30 centimeters. They did another Ultrasound and this time I was measuring around 35. She said if I got to 40, they would be really concerned and that I may have to be admitted FOR THE DURATION OF MY PREGNANCY. Wow.

The interesting thing about hyramnios is that they often don't know why it happens. I asked if the wreck could have caused it and she said it potentially could have because they really don't know. We set to ruling out the other possible causes, which are an Rh blood incompatibility, which could have been plausible because I am A negative and Stu and Kaden are both B positive, so the likelihood that this baby is Rh positive too is quite high. They did a screen that my Mom explained to me using big words, but basically it is where they take 6 slides and make sure there is no baby blood cells along with the Mommy blood cells. So we ruled that out. I got my Rho-gam shot anyway to protect him against my mean blood cells, should any of his blood get in my system.

The other common cause is Gestational Diabetes, but they gave me a glucose tolerance test and my blood work came back fine on that too.

The next is fetal abnormalities, but throughout both Ultrasounds they did a full, detailed anatomy scan of the baby and the doctor told me, "You have a textbook normal baby". So now I go back in a week from then (this Thursday) to have another follow-up Ultrasound done to see if the fluid levels have changed at all. Hopefully nothing ends up being wrong and we can finish this pregnancy without much issue.

I got to go home after Dr. Shappard (MY doctor) gave me the go-ahead, but not before we discovered the big irony of the whole thing. He said his neighbor got in a wreck yesterday and that he was towing his SUBURBAN home while my doctor was outside playing with his kids. Stu asked him if it was blue and Dr. Shappard's eyes bugged out of his head and threw his hands up over his mouth in shock. Stu showed him the picture of the vehicle on his phone and then he confirmed the name of the driver. We all had to crack up about how odd that was. What are the chances of that?

Mimi and Papa had arrived while I was stuck in the hospital so we all got to go out to dinner after I got home and got a very painful shower (trying washing your hair without the ability to tilt your head back to rinse it...). We had a good evening, but what followed was one of the worst nights of sleep in my life. I hurt sooooo bad. I was having sciatica pain as usual, but in addition, I couldn't lift my head off the pillow without physically grabbing it between my hands and lifting it with my arms. Poor Stu, I kept crying out in pain all night long as I tried to get comfortable. His neck ended up being stiff, but nothing like what I was feeling.

Now that it has been a week I am feeling much better. My neck is still sore, as is my back, but hopefully the ultrasound on Thursday will show reduced fluid and we can stop worrying so much about that aspect.

We had a great Easter with so much family here. This was Kaden's first Easter in America and I was really excited to celebrate it with him now that he is old enough to have fun participating in holidays (our last Easter was in Rome and the one before that was in Abu Dhabi). He was a champion at the egg hunts! In addition to Mimi and Papa, Mary-Leah and Jeff came down with their kids and we all had a great time chatting and hanging out and listening to them and their talents. What a bunch of musical kids! Harrison plays the trumpet and sings, Arlie plays the flute, Hayley plays the guitar really well, and she and Hannah kept us all entertained playing and singing around the firepit. Doug drove up too and brought Stu his smoker and we got to have a pork shoulder and 7 racks of ribs. They were soooo good. I could have eaten myself sick if it wasn't Mitch's birthday and there was cake too! :)

On Saturday we went to see Cats. Mo and Jeff and their kids and Stu were all underwhelmed. Jeff quipped, "We're dog people." Lol. I had seen the movie version so I knew what to expect so I enjoyed myself. Though I was still pretty uncomfortable from the wreck and I found myself getting irritable and exhausted about half-way through it. We also got to sit by Aaron, Jo and Maddie and Maddie sang every single word to every song. I was very impressed. :)

So we have had a busy week! And it is actually kind of nice for things to get back to normal now. School started back up this week so we are just back to the typical grindstone. Hope everyone is doing well and had a great Easter!