Car Accidents While Pregnant Are NOT Fun.

We decided yesterday to go visit my Grandmother who lives over an hour away. It was a nasty, rainy day, and the trip takes us on 5 different freeways around Atlanta. We were on the final leg of the trip when we passed an accident. I commented to Stephen that people need to learn how to drive in the rain and went back to my book. Seconds later something caught the corner of my eye, I looked up from my book and saw a Caddy coming at us from the lane to our right. I think she was going to go around the car in front of her and didn't look to see us passing her in her blind spot. She JERKED over, right into us. She was headed for my door, and Stephen saw her in enough time to take his foot off the gas so she hit more at the front of my door and the front tire. The force pushed us into the grassy median, where Stephen just rode out the median to stop the car safely inches from a ditch on the side. I immediately looked back to check on Little Man, who was still asleep. Then I searched for my phone that went flying and called 911 cause I didn't know if we were all ok at that point.

The police showed up and blocked the freeway so we could safely get our car out of the median and onto the side. At this point I was feeling crampy, but figured it was just from the seat belt across my growing belly. The firemen were asking us what happened, and if we were all ok. I denied going to the hospital via ambulance, because I figured I was fine, and that we could just drive ourselves if I needed to be checked.The police officer got all of our information, and then cleared us to leave, being as it was not our fault. He told us the report would be available in a few days.

While we were waiting for the police officer to do all his business, I put a call into my doctor to see what they wanted us to do. The only jolt from the accident was the initial hit, since my husband did such a great job steering us clear of other cars and the ditch. They wanted me to get checked out, which was fine with me. We piled back into the car, and buckled up to go to the hospital. We drove all of two feet and realized the car was not drivable. When we pulled it to a stop, we heard a loud pop.

Thankfully my sister, who has a car that seats 8, was a few miles ahead of us. She had turned around and showed up right about that time. We unloaded the important things from our car and piled into her car. She took Stephen and I to the hospital so I could be checked, and she took Little Man and her kids on to see my Grandmother.

When we got there they checked my blood pressure, and it was high. They took blood and started an IV to try to get my blood pressure down. They hooked me up to fetal monitors, contraction monitors, and a blood pressure monitor. The whole time I was on the monitors, Little Miracle was kicking very well, so I knew he was ok. I was in the emergency room for about 45 minutes before they moved me to labor and delivery. My blood pressure was still climbing and I was getting contractions every 8-10 minutes, which is considered pre-term labor. About an hour after being in labor and delivery they decided that the contractions were not stopping on their own, so they gave me a shot designed to relax your uterus to stop contractions. This shot worked almost right away. For 45 minutes I did not have any contractions. I then had 2 in the course of five minutes, but then they fizzled down in strength, and almost stopped. Two hours after they gave me the shot, they asked if I wanted Ambien to help me sleep later. I questioned how long they were going to keep me, and she said she would call the doctor and ask. I did not want to stay any longer, but knew if I needed to, I would. She came back around half an hour later and said I was free to go. I have to monitor Little Miracles kicks and contractions, and if either of them change, I have to go back to the hospital.

We went this morning to get Little Man a new car seat. I am so thankful that we had him in a very safe seat and still rear facing. We bought him the same brand seat, but a step up from the one he was in. I just have to wait now for the other drivers insurance information so I can get paid back for his seat. Any accident requires you to replace car seats, even if the child was not in the seat at the time. Britax is the ONLY brand that has a test and if you answer no to all 5 questions, you can keep using the seat. One of these questions was if our vehicle was able to be driven from the scene, and it was not.

I am so thankful that things happened the way they did. We were in a minivan and it took the hit very well. Stephen is a great driver that stopped us without causing any more damage to the car, and Little Man and Little Miracle are both doing great.