The accident...

Now that things are somewhat back to normal I guess I should blog about the recent trauma in my life. I'm not the best at journal writing so I kinda use this as my family journal. The last few weeks have been really tough on me and pretty hard on the family too. I thought I should document all the happenings.
On April 20th I was on my way to mutual. The road we take to the church has a ton of potholes on it, especially after it rains. Recently it had rain and so they were of course really bad. Anyway, I was driving along, excited as can be to going to mutual and I was planning on taking some pictures of the fun activity that night. In front of me there was a black car coming straight at me in my lane!!! (She said she was swerving around a pothole.) She was about 4 car lengths ahead of me and what did I do? I slammed on the brakes. When I did the car skid to the left and went in her lane where she corrected and met me pretty much head on. The airbag deployed although I don't remember it hitting me. The only thing I remember was the girl jumping out of her car on her phone screaming into it and me not able to breathe. I was 26 weeks pregnant and where the seat belt was hurt like no other! I looked up at the car and saw smoke pouring out of it. I opened the door and tried to get out of the car. There were a ton of people who had stopped by then and they kept telling me to stay seated. There was no way I was staying in that car! When I got out I realized that my left knee was killing me but I got away from the car and someone on a house close by brought me a chair to sit in until I was ready to leave. By this time I was shaking and having a hard time concentrating.
The cops showed up and didn't take a statement from me because I was loaded into the ambulance. (My first ride in an ambulance!) They cut off my clothes immediately to access the damage. My legs were both already bruising, especially my left knee, and I was bruised all along my seat belt. I think I was starting to have contractions at this point but I don't know because my stomach just hurt constantly.
I didn't have my phone. It was still in the car and when Keeper found in a couple days later it was stuck between the wheel and the frame of the car. Anyway, one of the people on their way to mutual stopped and called him for me. They also went over to our house so that he could go to the hospital.
Keeper beat the ambulance to the hospital so that worried him a little but it ended up being okay. They took me into the ER and started accessing me and the baby. Once they realized the amount of trauma/bruising they decided that their hospital wasn't equipped for that so we waited about 5 minutes for the helicopter and I was loaded into the helicopter. (My first helicopter ride and I had a stinking neck brace on and I was on a stretcher so I couldn't even look out the windows.) Keeper said later that he was trying hard not to point out things out the window so I wouldn't feel like I was missing out.
We made it to University Hospital (the trauma center for San Antonio) and they took me in and immediately started checking me out there. Rod Davis, a lifelong family friend who works at that hospital, came in then and was able to see me and relate the things that were going on to Keeper and my mom. Having him there also put me at ease too.
They checked me out and then took me back to get a CT scan to check for breaks and internal bleeding, I believe. Everything checked out okay except they wanted Otho. to check out my knee and ob. to check out the baby and the contractions I was having.
I was moved into a room where they monitored me and the baby and started me on magnesium. That stuff is horrible! It made me feel totally gross! Over the next 24 hours we had pediatricians, anesthesiologists, orthopedic surgeons, obstetricians, and a ton of other people in and out of my room preparing me for the worst. It was really scary!
The magnesium stopped the contractions and I checked out okay with everyone. There was one trauma doc that looked me right in the eye and told me I was so lucky. He pointed to my collarbone and said that should have broke, my knee should be totally trashed and the baby could've been here. I agree, I was so lucky!
After three days in the hospital I was finally cleared to go home. Hooray! It was hard to deal with the kids because they are used to being able to touch me and it hurt me when they did. My mom helped a ton with them and so did a few people in the ward and my sister-in-law. I really felt how loved I am because of all the stuff that was brought into us and all the sympathy I got.
Now, 2 weeks later, I am still sore but it's all turned out okay. My chest hurts sometimes when I breathe deep, cough or especially when I sneeze. My knee is still pretty tight but it doesn't really hurt, and my belly has a pretty bad hemotoma on it where the seat belt was and that is still really tender.
Everyday I am overwhelmed with how everything turned out. I am so blessed! I could've had so many worse injuries, I could've had a kid with me or I could be healing from a c-section while making daily hospital visits to see a tiny, 2 lb. baby. I am so blessed and I know that things turned out this way for a reason. I am grateful for the time I have with my kids everyday. It still wears on me sometimes, especially since I am still sore, but I am grateful for them and the fun I am able to have because of them. I am so grateful for Keeper and how understanding and helpful he has been through this all. Seeing the concern in his eyes through it all was pretty hard because although he wasn't going through it all physically, I knew he was hurting as much as I was. I am so grateful that this little baby gets to be a part of our family and that she is able to still have a chance of maturing more before she is born. Because I have already gone into labor, I am at a higher risk for it to happen again but the longer she is in the better. Last but not least I am grateful for all the love I've felt throughout this all. Love from family and friends and especially from my Savior. I have felt so much love Him and I know that I am still here for a reason. I know that I can get through all that this accident entails because of the love I feel from Him. I am so blessed!
The pictures of the car are on my phone and I can't get them downloaded onto the computer but there is my knee 10 day after the accident and the scene on the accident (the infamous potholes even though the city has already filled them in.)