So, on Monday, January 19th, I was meeting my mom, sister Joanna and nephew Andrew in Columbus (they are from West Virginia) for lunch and some shopping. I was right in the heart of Columbus during lunch hour so the interstate was pretty busy. I was just a few miles away from where Mom and Joanna were driving along minding my own business when the car to my left (in the fast lane) started to merge into my lane. It apparently did not see me at all and so to AVOID him hitting me I slammed on my breaks going 70+ miles per hour and ended up losing control of my car and slamming into the concrete median. I am not sure what speed I was going at the time of inpact but like I said, just prior, I was going 70+. These pictures were taken later that night when Tim came to pick me up. I was VERY surprised in how the car handled the impact. When I was talking to the police officer about that, I told him I couldn't believe that my car didn't just blow up because I hit so hard and his response was "well, you have a Toyota." Made me proud of my little blue matrix. :D So here is where I hit first.
You know how the concrete medians have that little flair at the bottom? Well, that is kind of the shape my tires took as you can see. The frame was bent all around the tire, making it not driveable at all.
The second impact was with the left rear of the car thus making the tire look like that and leave the scratches and dents. Like I said, the pictures aren't very good.
The second impact threw me back into the fast lane to which I, as quickly as possible, moved my car over to the left median. Keep in mind, this is lunch hour! People had to stuff their faces and had to stuff them fast! Maybe I am from a small town or something but I was VERY surprised that not a soul stopped. People that witnessed the accident kept driving on by. No one stopped to see if I was okay. Honestly, right after impact I distinctly remember thinking, "I'm still conscious!" I hit so hard. The Lord definitely had His hand of protection on me and the baby. Within 10 seconds of impact, there was a police officer in my rear view mirror. He came up and asked if I was okay to which I told him I thought I was fine, just shook up. He then went back to his cruiser and called for a tow truck. Meanwhile, I had told my mom and Joanna where I was located and they started their way toward me to pick me up. They then proceeded to get pulled over. :) Not not really, but still this is funny. They past me going the other direction and pulled off at the very next exit. My mom decided that it would be a good idea to sit in the median right before an on ramp (from what I understood) and wait to find out where they were going to take me. Within about, oh, 10 seconds, there was a police officer in front of and behind my mom blocking her from moving. The police officer came to the window and was like "ma'am is there any reason why you are just sitting here?" She told them I was in the accident up on the interstate and they then got on their radio and talked to the police officer with me and found out where they were going to be taking me and let my mom go. Added a little humor to the situation anyway.
Like I said, the Lord definitely had His hand of protection on me, even in the little things like, I found out my license was expired but the police officer was VERY nice and didn't give me a ticket. He also didn't give me a ticket at all for failure to control my vehicle or anything like that. He said since it wasn't really my fault and I was trying to avoid another collision that he couldn't justify giving me a ticket. We haven't heard yet whether they will total the car or not. The damage to the car is really not as much body damage as it is frame and alignment stuff. Tim thought that maybe the transmission was affected as well, but who knows. Hopefully we will find out soon. Also, another thing to praise the Lord about is the fact that the airbags did NOT go off. Had they gone off, it would have caused a lot more risk to the baby because of the shear speed and force that those things come out. I have seen the damage done to people's wrists and faces, not to mention ribs and stuff from those airbags. I didn't have any marks from the seat belt and didn't hit my head or anything on the windows. My stuff just went EVERYWHERE and the force of the impact turned my radio on. The windshield wipers came on too, but thats probably because I accidentally hit them or something. Its also amazing that for the 15 minutes that I sat on the interstate (maybe it was less, felt like an eternity) no one hit me. I had an ultrasound yesterday to make sure there was no abruption or anything to my uterus or placenta and to check the baby's movement. Everything checked out perfectly fine and we got to see our precious little baby again!
This was taking at 22 weeks plus 5 days. The best profile picture we got. :) People keep using the word "stubborn" to describe our child. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I have to say it would get that characteristic honestly.
Little ghostly face :)
This is blurry, but they are the baby's little feet! :) It was SO hard not to find out again what the gender is and I asked the tech if it would be easier for her to visualize the heart and other parts that she was supposed to see if we weren't so particular about not finding out and she said "even if you wanted to find out, you wouldn't be able to, you have a stubborn child" :)
Thanks for those who have been praying for me and my pregnancy. Only 17 more weeks!
