Look both ways: a cautionary tale

On Saturday evening, Ryan, Cade, and I were headed to eat dinner and go to the grocery store. Ryan was driving *my* car. I was talking on the phone to my MIL. Ryan stopped at a 4-way stop (one that we drive through frequently), then proceeded through the intersection. I glanced over towards him and noticed that there was a car coming straight at us that did not look like it was going to stop as it should have. I screamed, the car hit us, the phone flew out of my hand, and then there was smoke coming out of the front of our car.

As I was trying to find my phone (why this was such a priority, I have no idea...other than I could hear my MIL yelling things like "What is going on? What happened? Hello?"), Ryan asks me if I'm ok, then starts pushing me out of the car, climbing over to the passenger side to get out after I did. He got Cade out of the backseat, and we stood there in shock for a minute. The lady who hit us got out of her car (on her phone) and asked if we were ok. I have no idea what I said to her (but I'm pretty sure I was glaring), but I know I asked if she was on the phone with 911. Her response almost made me punch her (as if I didn't want to already)..."No, I'm on the phone with my friend. I was trying to figure out how to get to his house and didn't even see that stop sign." So I called 911. After being transferred at least once, maybe twice, I finally got someone and told them what happened. The girl asked me if we needed medical or just police, and I told her that I'm pregnant, so yes, we needed medical.

I then called my brother, who headed over, and my mom, who was just a few minutes behind him. The ambulance got there, and I climbed in to be evaluated. They thought everything was fine, and let me go. After giving some information to one of the 10 police officers who were there (seriously...there actually might have been more than that), I went with my mom and Cade to sit in her car. A few minutes later, Ryan sent us on back to our house (at some point, he had moved the car seat to mom's car), and then he and my brother came after my car was towed away, and picked up dinner on their way, and witnessed another accident, way worse than ours...same street, one mile north.

While we were eating, it was decided that I should probably call my OB and let her know what happened. When one of the doctors in her practice called me back (I was still not done eating), she informed me that they recommend after any kind of vehicle accident while pregnant, you go to the hospital to be monitored for 4 hours. Lovely. It was already 7:30 pm. Ryan packed some stuff for Cade, and he went to spend the night with Ma-ga (grandma), and we headed to our friendly neighborhood hospital (not the same one that I had the terrible experience with last year...we went to the one that is, ironically, about half a mile away from where the wreck happened).

They sent me to the labor and delivery floor, where they monitored baby girl's heartrate for about 2 hours. Everything checked out fine, and we went back to the ER to have my knee and neck checked out, because they had started hurting. Everything was fine there, and the ER doc wanted to do an ultrasound just to be sure (I think he just wanted to play with the machine :), so we got to see baby girl, too!

(Amusing side note: apparently our wreck made several of the nurses late for their shifts at the hospital...so everyone we talked to had heard about the wreck before we got there)

Fast forward: we're all fine, Ryan and I were a little sore on Sunday, but pretty much back to normal by Monday. They have unofficially totaled my car. :( That car was my first real grown-up purchase. I researched what I wanted after I graduated from college, I went looking by myself, and I bought it all by myself. (OK, so I got opinions from some other people, and my mom went with me to co-sign, but I made the decision and paid for it all by myself!!) Ryan and I paid it off not too long after we got married, and I was not ever in any kind of accident in my car (well, obviously, until this one) (which was a miracle, because prior to me getting that car, I had been in 4 wrecks in 4 years, all of which were my fault). I LOVED that car. I had it for 7 years and 3 and half months. Ryan has been wanting me to get a new car for about a year now, and I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of my Escape. But now she's gone. She was a good car. I miss her already. I have this shiny, new Toyota Sienna that is super-fancy sitting in my garage right now (just a rental), and I would rather have my 10 year old Escape.

And can I just say that car shopping SUCKS??? Especially when you're on a timeframe...can't just sit around and wait on a good deal...I need to find a car. Ugh.

So in conclusion: remember how in driver's ed they told you to stop at the 4-way stop, look both ways, then proceed through the intersection? Yeah. It's a good idea. You never know when a blonde 44 year old bimbo on her phone is going to be coming through the same intersection you are.