crash

I picked up Vincente from the dentist's office today after school because he had to be there with my MIL while she waited for her 12 year old son to have his dentist visit. Then I was going to get home and wait for the two younger boys to get home from school, and if it was raining, I was going to go pick up the kindergartener from school so he wouldn't have to ride home in the rain.

I got Vince all buckled in the car seat. He was in his usually good mood, and played with me on the ride home, covering his face with his snuggle and playing peek-a-boo. Anyway, we started driving down the hill from Spanish Fork into Salem. The speed limit is reduced from 55 mph to 40 mph, and because people often "forget," the police dept puts up their little "friendly reminder" speed detector just past the new speed limit sign. They don't know this, but their speed detector is two mph slow. I can be going 42 and it thinks I'm going 40! But that's okay, because I go by my spedometer anyway. So I was watching my speed drop from 50 to 40 (well, from 48 to 38) on the speed detector, amused that my speed was two mph faster than it said it was.

Just past the speed detector, I turned around for a second to smile at Vincente - for just about as long as you look over your shoulder to do a shoulder check before changing lanes. When I turned back around, there it was. A yellowish gold car. Running into me. My first thought was "Oh crap! Maybe I swerved out of my lane!" My second thought was "I've been hit!" My third thought was "This airbag is yellow, my old one was white." My fourth thought was "Okay... I just got hit... oh crap... we're tipping over." As we rolled, my mind was flashing images of cars rolling over and bodies being flung out of the cars, bloody foreheads, broken legs... all sorts of scary things. Then when the car stopped rolling and was "safely" resting on the driver's side of the car, I looked back at Vincente and started screaming "My baby! My baby!" I struggled with my seatbelt for a second, then climbed over the driver's seat to the back driver's side door. Vincente was trapped in his carseat, screaming. I got him out of his harness, grabbed his snuggle, and held him close, telling him I had him and reassuring him that it was okay. His mouth was full of blood, but he seemed okay. Then I noticed people coming towards my car. They kept asking me "Are you okay? Is the baby okay? Are you the only people in the car?" but all I could do was scream "What happened? What happened? What happened?" Finally I asked "Was it my fault!?" Once the lady reassured me that it wasn't my fault, I handed Vincente to her and finished climbing out of my mangled car. I didn't 100% believe her, because her word wasn't the final say, but it was a little reassuring. 

Once we were out of the car, she got us to sit down on the side of the road. Vincente's emotions mirrored mine exactly. If I was hysterical, he was hysterical. If I could calm myself down, he was relatively calm, and kept pointing at the car and saying "Our car?" I think he was wondering why it was laying on its side. 

The EMT's looked us over, asked if we wanted to go to the hospital, and once we said no, they let us go home with my MIL and brother in law, Brady. They had come straight to the scene from the dentist's office. So Vincente and I escaped with abraisons from the seat belts and carseat, and Vince had a few little wounds on his tongue from biting it during the crash (that's what all the blood was from).

Besides being incredibly shaken up, not having a car, and not having a husband (ironically the only time I get in car accidents is when Russ is gone to military training...) we're doing alright. Kind of sore and banged up. I'm going to go to the Dr's office tomorrow to get the baby checked out. Vince looks fine, but if he starts acting weird at all, I'm taking him straight in to get checked. I could always take him in anyway, but it's too much of a hassle right now, and he really looks okay. Oh yes, and I have increased faith in my Evenflo Chase booster carseat. You hope you never really have to test the crash ratings for those things... but mine held up. They now come highly recommended by me :) I bought an Evenflo convertible carseat in the first place (the Evenflo Titan) because consumer reports gave it one of the best safety ratings. I figured if the convertible seat was so good, the booster carseats must be pretty good too. Turns out they are! :)

Anyway, if you ever need help installing your carseat correctly, let me know as well. I figure I must be a pro at it if my kid got out of a rolling car with only a bit tongue and some seatbelt burns. That's impressive!

While I was taking a jetted bath with Vince after the accident I kept thinking about why this might happen to me. I don't mean I was going around asking "Why me? Why me!?" I just like to see some kind of reason behind everything, because I believe that everything happens for a reason. I've been really feeling close to Heavenly Father lately, and I wasn't doing anything wrong or illegal or anything. So I thought about it, and then I thought about how we were relatively untouched during a really bad crash. I know guardian angels were looking out for us. And I honestly believe that there is more to it than this, but I think Heavenly Father wanted us to know that he is watching out for us, and that He will take care of us right now while Russ is away. It's like He's the Patriarch of our home while Russ is away. I feel very very blessed right now.