This past Friday started off like any other Friday. I dropped the Civic off to get the oil changed and my good friend Linda and I went to a children's consignment sale and grabbed lunch together. I went and picked up my car and began running my errands. I was over on Capital Blvd. (which, BTW, I swear every time I am over there it is monsooning). I stopped at "Babies R Us" to return something and decided to buy my time until the rain subsided. Once the rain stopped, I left and headed to Carolina Pottery to return a few items there. I got off of I40 onto Harrison, and was waiting at the red light to turn right. The car in front of my turned right on red and so I inched up. Since I was driving the Civic and not my normal Pilot, I decided to wait until the light turned green to turn. Well, I guess the guy behind me thought we were all going to turn right on red, and he rear-ended me. All I could think of is, "Oh my gosh, is the baby OK?" We turned into the first little parking lot to assess the damage. Thankfully, the damage to my car was minor...I will need a new bumper and it will probably need to be realigned, but I am NO mechanic...so we will see. The guy was VERY persistent on my NOT calling the police, which made me feel uneasy, so I called Paul and he came over and got the guys information. I called my OB and spoke with him, and since it was after hours, he wanted me to go to the hospital to be monitored for a few hours. This made me nervous, but I want to do whatever is best for my baby. I am not going to lie, I envisioned sitting in a chair with a baby monitor for a few hours, nothing major. I arrived at the hospital and they immediately put me in a wheelchair and checked me in. They took me to a hospital room and told me to put a hospital gown on and get in the bed. They hooked me up to a baby heart monitor and a contraction monitor. I'm thinking, OK, not what I was expecting. About this time, Joe, Paul's roommate, got there to sit with me until Paul could get things squared away at work to come. A nurse came in to put an IV in. I asked her why I was getting an IV, and she told me that I was having some minor contractions, and since I was only 34 weeks, they were giving me an IV to try to hydrate me to try to stop the contractions. This really freaked me out! Thankfully, Paul got there about this time! He felt awful for not coming sooner, but neither one of us had any idea of how serious the situation was or could be. They ended up taking blood and running some tests, having an ultrasound to check the placenta, and a cervical exam. They wouldn't let me eat anything until all of this was done and thankfully came back normal. I was finally allowed to eat at about 11:15pm, so my sweet hubby ran and found the closest open restaurant (Burger King) and got us both some dinner. They did, however, decide to make me stay the night to monitor me, since I was still having contractions. They gave me some sleeping medicine (which, if you know me, non-drowsy makes me drowsy...lol) to hopefully help the contractions stop. The next morning, the contractions had finally slowed down and eventually stopped, so I was discharged but put under "house arrest" until I can go back to my OB on Wednesday to get rechecked. The only downfall is that Paul and I were not able to go to Baltimore to see his family this weekend like we had planned. They had a big party planned for us and everything...they still had our party and Paul and I Skyped in to see everyone and say hi. It stinks that we couldn't go, but better safe than sorry...and thankfully they all understood.
I am so thankful that the accident was not any worse. If a minor fender bender can be that serious, I can only imagine what it would have been like if it was worse! I thank God that Grace is OK and that the contractions stopped, and I hope that she will stay safe and sound...for a few more weeks anyways.
Thanks for reading,
Carolyn
