It was the worst of times, it was the best of times

When I woke up Wednesday morning, I really thought Scott Brown winning the US Senate seat was going to be the worst thing that happened that day. Boy was I wrong.

Before I get into details, let me first say that I am okay, and the baby is okay. No sense drawing out the melodramatics. But I definitely had the scare of my life Wednesday night, and hope to never, ever go through anything like that again.

Okay, here's the play-by play:

I left work Wednesday evening completely ravenous. I guess my cravings are kicking in, because all I could think about the entire way home was a big juicy burger with all the works. When I got home, Stacey asked me what I wanted for dinner. Immediately, I said "5 Guys". I had never had one of their burgers, but all afternoon coworkers had been raving about how they were the best burgers they ever had, and my mouth immediately started watering.

Now normally we don't eat fast food. In fact, hardly ever. But just the day before Stacey and I had a conversation about not being crazy sticklers about my diet, as long as I was conscious about getting a steady supply of vitamins, minerals and DHA, which I was. Not to mention, we have been really good about not spending money when we don't have to, so it is very rare that we go out to eat instead of cooking at home. We agreed that giving in to a not-so-great craving once in awhile was okay, and it's not going to break our bank to spend $10 on take out...so dog-gone it, today was the day. I said, don't worry. I'll run out and grab dinner, and I'll be back in 20 minutes.

About 15 minutes later, I was on my way home with my delicious smelling bag of burgers. I was about 5 minutes from home, when I went through a green light, only to have an idiot coming the opposite direction decide to turn right in front of me. Now, she didn't have a green arrow, and I had the right away (the policeman on the scene reiterated that fact), but that didn't seem to deter her from turning into oncoming traffic. I slammed on my brakes, but couldn't avoid getting hit. She crashed into my front driver's side, and my car went careening onto the curb and finally stopped about 8 inches from a light pole.

I didn't get out of my car, I just sat there, panicking. I didn't care about the damage to my car, I didn't care about whether or not I was okay, all I could think about was the baby. I immediately called 911 (after I collected myself enough to remember how to use a phone.)

"I've just been in an accident. Please come help me. I'm 10 weeks pregnant."

The dispatcher was very calm and helpful, and police arrived on the scene within 3 minutes.

"I'm 10 weeks pregnant" was all I could say to the officer who came up to my car. It was all I could think about.

"Are you hurt?" they kept asking me.

"I don't think so, but please, I need to go to the hospital. I'me 10 weeks pregnant."

Panic was setting in, and the thought of my baby being hurt was too much to handle. I started crying uncontrollably, and couldn't speak. I called Stacey, and felt horrible because I'm sure my tears made her even more upset about the accident, but she was calm and wonderful. "It's okay, just tell me where I need to meet you", was all she said.

All I could think about was, "Of course this is happening. Of course I'm going to lose the baby. This accident was supposed to happen because I'm not supposed to be a mother"...I mean horrible things. I tried to relax, and breathe deeply to stop the tears.

The paramedics were very comforting, and walked me to the ambulance. Physically, I felt fine...no major damage. I walked by the other driver, and made eye contact, and she gave me a pathetic little smile as if to say, "I'm sorry." I was so filled with fear and rage at her, I couldn't manage a response. I just walked by.

When I got to the hospital, Stacey was already there waiting for me, and was as scared as I was. The doctors and nurses at the hospital were very reassuring, and said at 10 weeks the baby is extremely protected, and if I wasn't feeling any cramping or bleeding, most likely the baby is fine. But they strongly suggested we call our OB right away and schedule an ultrasound, just for our own peace of mind. As soon as we got home, we did so, and the doctor on call told us he'd squeeze us in the next day for an appointment.

Needless to say, we barely slept that night, and I prayed more than I had ever prayed in my life.

I took Thursday off from work, as a day of recovery was definitely needed. We talked to the insurance company, we walked to pick up our rental car, and drove to the body shop where our poor car was taken. The whole front panel of the driver's side was missing, and it was then that I realized how lucky I was. A second sooner, and she would have hit my door. A second later, and I would have hit her, and the airbags surely would have gone off, probably hurting me and most likely seriously injuring the baby. A wave of emotion came overe me all over again.

After the body shop, we waited for another hour or so, and finally it was time for our ultrasound appointment.

Let me tell you, never in my life have my emotions skyrocketed from sadness and fear to bursting with eleation quicker than it did the moment we saw our beautiful little baby dancing around on that screen.

Beautiful arms, beautiful legs, a perfect little head and an adorable little belly, with a strong healthy heartbeat that was music to our ears. Both Stacey and I immediately started crying. Our baby was okay.

They whole rest of the day, we were on cloud nine. We sent pictures to our parents and closest friends, all of whom were thrilled. (We hadn't told them all about the accident yet...we thought we'd lead with the good news.)

In less than 24 hours, we went from one of the scariest days of our lives to one of the happiest.

I suppose that's parenthood for you, though. Boy, are we in for a wild ride.