4 Week Birthday Accident

Well, we didn't exactly spend Gibson's 4 week birthday quite the way we had planned yesterday. We had planned on heading over to my sister's house and then quickly going to Carpet Bonanza to get some samples of carpet for our basement. Unfortunately we didn't make it to Em's house as planned.

We were heading north to her house when I suddenly started fish tailing like crazy. The next thing I really remember is looking at Elv next to me in the front seat while the vehicle was upside down. I don't even remember being upside down or unbuckling my seatbelt or anything. I remember then moving the floor mats aside and getting around our privacy screen bar (that had detached landed b/w the front and back seat) in order to crawl into the back seat and I saw Layla and Gibson both hanging upside down in their carseats. Layla's face had blood all over it and she was screaming "mama, mama, mama". I remember thinking, 'Ok, Layla's alive, so I need to get Gibson out first'. At some point a guy knocked on the front driver side window and I could see that he was calling for help. I'm pretty sure I was screaming hysterical for help at him. I really don't remember when I saw him--before heading to the back seat maybe?? I also remember trying to get Gibson's carseat detached from the base, but I couldn't for some reason. So since I could clearly tell that Layla was alive I'm pretty sure I then unstrapped Gibson from his carseat first. I think I then handed him to the guy who had by then opened the front passenger side door. I can't remember if he was even awake when I got him out of the car, but I know that when the guy was holding him he was sleeping. I then got Layla out. It's all so sketchy and I'm really not even sure what details I'm mixing up. The only other thing I can remember from being in the car was having the guy tell me to shut the car off and so I did. I just then remember that we were all out of the vehicle safely and the guy that first came to help was holding Gibs and another passerby guy was holding Layla (who was screaming and not appreciating being held by a stranger). I remember seeing Gibs' hatless head and wanting to find his hat to keep him warm and the guy had set it on top (or actually the bottom) of the car so I was able to put it on him. Another guy had also stopped to help. I have no idea if any of them were together or not. There was then also a girl that had stopped that said that we could keep warm in her car. I feel bad because I think I kind of ignored her because the lady that lived in the house that we crashed in front of then came out and said that we could go into her house. I was then holding Layla and began to walk up the tree covered hill to the house. I kept slipping (not great traction on my boots) and was scared that I'd hurt Layla by falling and sliding down the hill with her in my arms. The guy was carrying Gibson up after me. At some point while we were still by the vehicle I had called my sister to let her know that we had been in an accident. I think I was so shaken up that even those details are confusing--I could just tell her on the phone that we were on the road going to her house and got in an accident. She asked me what road it was and I didn't know. Thankfully there is one "normal" way I take to her house so she figured it out and headed down that road to find us. (I really should learn the name of the road--the insurance company asked me today when giving my statement and I still wasn't sure!) After we got inside the house (the nice lady even let Elv inside with us) I called Joe to let him know and he left work immediately. Layla was totally calm by that point and Gibs was sound asleep on a chair:). The cop then showed up and since an ambulance hadn't been called the cop said it'd be okay to have Em drive us to the hospital. I didn't realize until we got in the house that I was bleeding and my head really hurt. It's amazing how the adrenaline of everything makes you not feel pain! We got checked in at the hospital (which took over 4 hours in Holland's ER!) and the kids checked out totally fine and I just had to get 3 staples in my head.

We are SO thankful and PRAISE God that we were all okay!! We pretty much came out scratch free. The car is a different story, but that doesn't matter. My children are what matter! It's just amazing how it all worked out. It could have been SO much worse! Had we been a little bit further north we would have ended up in water. Even the deep ditch we did land in floods easily so we were so fortunate that it wasn't flooded. There are trees all over that stretch of road--it was only by God's gracious protection that we didn't hit a tree. I am SO thankful for carseats!! My 20 month old and 4 WEEK OLD baby (who hasn't even hit his due date yet) were hanging upside down after rolling into a ditch and came out totally fine!! Layla's face had been bleeding from some scratches, but after they cleaned her up at the ER you could hardly see them and they are totally gone today. I am SO thankful that we didn't hit another car--of coursee because it then could have been way worse for us, but also because I would feel even worse had I involved and possibly hurt anyone else. I am also thankful for carseats and seat belts. What's weird is we've been saying lately how we should flip Layla's car seat around to face forward now that she's 20 pounds (21 something in the ER actually--although she had clothes and such on). Well, we kind of just haven't gotten around to flipping her yet--she is, er, was still comfy riding backwards in our Endeavor but is starting to get cramped in other people's cars that she rides in. I'm sure she probably would have been just as fine facing forward, but who knows--facing backwards is five times safer for head injuries. So I'm thankful that at 20 months we still had her rear facing and I have the reassurance now that I had her as protected as possible for her age. It's crazy how even the "little" things worked out. When leaving the house that morning I wasn't planning on bringing Layla's beloved "Dolly", but I then decided that since she might be napping at Em's I would just grab it and put it in the bag. I was hoping to not have her see me put her in the bag (we don't like her getting in the habit of taking her out of the house unless she's going somewhere where she'll be napping). Well, I tried to put her in the bag without Layla noticing, but Layla heard me put her in the bag (she rattles) so I just handed her to Layla. Layla then wanted to also take one of her babies along, but I told her to leave her home and she set her right down--had she put up a fight I probably would have let her take her and who knows, maybe the baby (with a hard plastic head) would have hit Layla or Gibson in the face or something. Layla also had two pipes as we were leaving and I grabbed one away from her and stuck it in my coat pocket. Layla's pipe flew out of her mouth during the crash (Dolly remained in her arms the whole time), so thankfully I remembered that I had one in my pocket for her after the crash. I know that seems unimportant, but Layla stayed so calm and happy the whole time and I really think it was because she had Dolly and her pipe. Another thing that worked out great was that the lady whose house we crashed in front of is my neighbor from growing up's (and Em's friend) mother-in-law and that old neighbor actually lives with her family right next to her mother-in-law. She occasionally helps Em out by watching Gavin so when Em came to the accident site she quickly dropped Gavin off at her friend's house. We also used her infant carrier to transport Gibs to the hospital (Layla used Gavin's car seat). It's also amazing that Elv was totally unharmed. He had been on my lap the whole ride (he sits nicely--he was not a distraction). I have no idea if I held him as we rolled or what, but he doesn't have a scratch on him. I know he's "just a dog", but we really love him and I love now how much Layla loves him (they actually play pretty nicely together:D). It made me think about it when we got home from the hospital and Elvis was still at Em's house (we dropped him off on the way to the hospital) and Layla was walking around the house yelling "Elv, Elv". Even our dog was okay!! And it's also amazing that Joe answered my call. He was just stepping into a meeting and said that he wasn't going to answer it since it was an unknown number to him, but he ended up answering it. I so thankful he could come right away to help us in the ER--he was actually just exciting the highway as we were passing the exit on the way to the hospital. I am also so thankful for the guy that was there pretty much immediately I think (as far as I know). I wish that I knew who he was (and the others too). I would like to know what happened (after he arrived--I think he told my sister that he didn't witness the crash) and I would like to thank him. I feel like I was so out of it that I didn't even really thank him! I'm grateful that he was traveling down that same country rode at that time and that he thought to stop--some people might have assumed that we weren't in there or something and kept driving.

As far as crash details go, I was heading north towards Zeeland, I hit black ice close to where Ottagon intersects, I then started fish-tailing like crazy. Like I said, that's as far as I remember. My front driver's side tire must have then caught on the gravel on the east shoulder which then sent us rolling into the ditch and we then landed upside down facing south. The back of the car appears to have been hit too so we must have landed on that first and then ended up landing on the roof. I will miss my car, but a car is just a car. We should hear early next week if it is considered totaled or not. I would think so judging by how it looks, but we don't know for sure yet. If so, we will be looking hopefully soon for something a little bit bigger for our expanding family.

We took these pics obviously after it had been towed. I should have taken some at the scene. I did have my camera with me which thankfully survived the crash:). Everything did really--even our GPS screen wasn't cracked or anything!

The beginning part of our time in the ER is scetchy to me. I started getting a migraine at some point and it was the early stage where you can't think straight (or at least that's what happens to my brain--I remember at one point not being sure if Gibson was really my son's name or not!), but since we were there so long, I do remember the majority of it. Layla was SUCH a big girl. She was happy as can be walking around the boring room just waiting for me to get my staples. She cried when she got checked, but I didn't even see it--I was down the hall in the bathroom and could hear her--she was quiet by the time I got back though. I think she thought she was pretty cute in her little tiger "dress" and thought her "bracelet" (hospital band) was pretty cute too. And she was even missing her nap! I think it helped though that Em found an area with graham crackers for her to snack on! And Gibson just slep the whole time only breaking to eat once.

Here's Layla and me waiting in the ER...(a little blurry since they were taken on Joe's phone)

Gibson waiting patiently in the ER room...

I'm pretty sure that when the accident happened the main thing going through my mind was, 'God, please let my children be alive and okay'. I would have NEVER thought to pray that my children would come out of the crash totally untouched. I'm sure if I you would have asked me in that moment that I would have thought they'd be really hurt. GOD IS GOOD! We must have a really great gardian angel!! I feel blessed beyond words. I was cleaning all the stuff out that had been in our car today and can't believe how dirty everything got and how blood stained things got (I guess from my head--it was not a big cut, just deep). From looking at that and from seeing how our car ended up I can't believe that we're all okay. Layla acted totally fine today and Gibs did too. I'm super sore and have some bruising and aching and such, but nothing major at all!! Again, GOD IS GOOD!

I don't know now how to really process what happened or what to do with all that has now gone through my mind. I feel scared thinking about driving them in the future. I feel so horrible that it was my fault. I jeopardized my kids' lives. It could have ended up so badly because of me. I pray that I can now learn to deal with what happened and move on with my life. Not necessarily unchanged--but move on. I hope I can now appreciate my kids even more and keep them safe without trying to keeep them in a bubble. I haven't really been in an accident before (besides some minor fender benders) and I didn't realize how tramatic it really can be especially when it involves children! I pray that something like this never happens again to my kids or anyone else in my family!!