Always Wear Nice Underwear

Everyone is okay (mostly).

Yet another car calamity has befallen the LilySea household. That's the third in as many months. Cole's sideswipe in June, the baseball bat-to-the-window vandalism in July and okay, maybe it's closer to four months, but todays accident was worth double points, I'd say, since both Cole and I were in the car. (And I will tell you right now that the kids were not. Thankfully, they were at home with a baby sitter.)

Cole and I had our first real date (with nary a clinging shorty) this afternoon, as our neighbor had scored us some comps to see Shawn Colvin play at the U's arts center. We were headed out from the concert to have some tea and scones when a crazy nutcase slammed into the third car behind us in stop-and-go Small Town rush-minute congestion. I saw the whole thing in the rear view mirror (I was driving, lucky me). I thought briefly that the accident wouldn't get to us, then it did as the car behind us was propelled by the car behind it and slammed us in the right rear corner of the bumper. Then I thought we had enough room in front of us not to hit the car ahead. Then we hit the car ahead and both Cole and I smacked our heads against the seat headrests.

Ouch.

We both rode off in an ambulance together in neck braces. We told them no scary boards (Cole had that last time and the terror of it was fresh in her mind). They cleared us and sent us on our merry way. A cop dropped us near Cole's car, parked on campus (mine was towed), and we went to dinner before heading back home. We shared a glass of wine even though we had both just told the paramedics that we don't drink. (We don't drink enough to write home about.)

Can I tell you how glad I was that my babies weren't in the car? The first thing I did was open the back seat and inspect it and the car seats. Nothing was disturbed. My bag was even sitting upright in the infant seat where I'd stashed it. I'm absolutely certain they would have been fine, but they also would have been very scared. Anyway, thank god for Volvo station wagons. It felt like a tank--like nothing could really touch us in there, however jerked around we might be. And it was damaged very little. The car behind us was cruched terribly. It got sideswiped, rear-ended and slammed into us. The driver was okay (everyone in the accident was mostly okay) but she was very shaken up.

Oh yes, and the car that caused the accident went barrelling on ahead of me as soon as I turned the flashers on and stopped the engine. Cole started to get out to check on the woman behind us and I shouted, "get the licence plate number!"

I need not have. He slammed into two more cars further up, one a police car, then crashed into a pole, got out of the car and kept running on foot. He was in the ER when we were. The EMT told me he was okay but in big trouble. We saw them wheel him out to a cop car in a chair, cuffed and screaming his head off. We felt really sorry for him. Maybe if our kids had been in the car or someone had been seriously hurt we'd feel differently, but as it was, he just seemed like a big mess and really sad.

But my back and neck are just killing me. I had reached a decent plateau with my chiropractic rehab. In fact, my chiro just moved me up to the final stage of the weight-bearing exercise to strengthen my neck, yesterday. Now it looks like I've got whiplash on the OTHER side of my neck. Great. I had really started to feel comfortable using the wrap with Selina around the house several hours a day. I was going to take both kids to the park tomorrow (wrap one/stroll one) for a Downs Syndrome fundraising event. After walking successfully all over town on several errands last Wednesday, I thought I was ready.

Bah.

Comments

[Susan]

ouch! I'm glad you're OK, and I hope the recovery for both of you will go OK. That's scary.

[Sara]

I'm glad you're not hurt!!!

Look into replacing the car seats. They are like bike helmets - meant to be one-time-crash things. Even if babies weren't in them, they still took the impact (against seat and seatbelt etc.) - if you check around car safety boards and/or call the manufacturer they should confirm. Insurance should cover the cost :)

and again - I'm glad you weren't hurt more seriously.

[Dana]

Glad to hear you're both (mostly) all right. I hope your next date is less eventful.

("Clinging shorty"--love it!)

[Stephanie]

So sorry about the accident, but glad to hear that both of you are okay. We were almost in an accident when we last moved and thankfully our brakes stopped us in time. But I was angry at that other driver for months (seriously) because our daughter had been in the car and if she had been hurt, I might have physically attacked the guy.

[Casdok]

Hope your nexk feels better soon!

[Nicole]

Oh boy. I am sorry this happened and that your night was altered because of it. I hope you are not too sore this week. Take care, both of you!

[DS-L]

Thank god you both were ok and the kids were not with you. But you should get new carseats, you never know what stress was put on them, even with a small crash. DS-L

[mijk]

this is why we drive a volvo (paid by granddad!!!!!)

[deb]

Yikes! Take care of that neck and much sympathy from San Francisco. And as said above, don't let this stop you from having more dates!!!

[Beth]

Oh how awful. I do hope your neck and back heal quickly. I agree that you might want to check into the necessity of getting the car seats replaced.

[bliss]

i'm glad you are ok!

re: underwear--i have both been cut out of mine more than once and have removed them from patients after misfortunes befell them. i can say with confidence that unless you're wearing extremely super scandalous panties, the medics don't notice (and aren't supposed to comment in any case) but you will be sad to have your nice ones ruined. so, despite conventional wisdom, wear your old duds with the shot elastic when planning to wreck...

[Tracy]

Yes, I was going to comment about the car seats too. I'm repeating what the first post about car seats said, but it bears repeating: GET NEW SEATS FOR THE KIDS!!!

[Angel]

(((Giant gentle hugs)))) I'm glad you both are ok and that the babies weren't in the car!! I hope you both are feeling better very soon.

Ditto what Sara said about the carseats.

[shannon]

Don't worry ya'll--we're getting new carseats. We didn't know insurance would cover it, so that's nice. But we were planning to get new ones anyway, so everyone can rest assured.

[Tricia]

Third vote for the car seats-

Insurance will cover them. Unfortunately, we did this a few years back.

[Lisa]

Oh, Poor things. I'm glad you are alright. Sucks that you sort of have to start all over with the back pain. So glad the kids weren't in the car.

I hope that you now have had your lifetime allotment of car crashes and you will be spared in the future.

[frog]

AMEN to the "Thank God for Volvo station wagons!" comment. That's what Mr. Bat was driving when they were hit--it saved his life.

[Rosemary]

So glad you are all right! Happy toast to the Volvo. At least it was after Shawn Colvin and not before the concert? (Searching for silver linings).

[Jentle]

I'm so glad you're both okay, and that the girls were not in the car.

[regine]

You poor things. Glad you're both okay. Hugs to all of you. Good that you still ended the evening sharing a drink despite everything.

[AngelNicki]

Wow, that guy is DEFINITELY in a lot of trouble! He's a walking, talking, "don't drink and drive" commercial now!
I once got in a huge wreck, and I had a babyseat in the car but no baby, and I was told that I could still use the seat and that insurance wouldn't cover it because the baby hadn't been in it. Hmm....

[shannon]

Carseat Update:

We are in a rental car with rental carseats this week visiting Grandmom and Granddad.

Our new Britax Roundabouts are delivered and waiting at home. Our insurance agency has said that we need only submit the receipts and they'll cover it.

Okay?