Movin Up

On Friday 4/20, I rushed out of work and had a thousand things to do that day.  After picking up my 2 girls and on my way to our house (to meet my brother in law who was already there, AND pay the tree man before he was done getting rid of the gigantic dying tree in our yard... we cut down the giant, dying tree yay!) the afternoon traffic was thick.  I'm talking to Alisa, trying to get her to take her hand out of the window while I roll it up.  The very next thing I know, I am slammed into the SUV in front of me, maybe 30-40 miles an hour, zero opportunity to brake.  I do not recall any impact, any noise, any airbag or anything.  I do recall feeling like we were still just moving moving moving down the road and then mashing my brake in for a long time - probably way after we stopped.  The first thing I noticed was a weird smell, and saw that the airbag had gone off. Next, I just noticed noise and lots of it.  That turned out to be my horn - stuck on, honking non-stop - and both of my babies screaming in the back.  I tried to assess whether I was ok, but couldn't feel anything, so I got out and began to unbuckle them, but then thought, how can I get the horn off, then thought I need to call the police.  I seriously just kinda went back and forth, not doing anything for a bit, then tried to call 911.  That was super fun with the horn blaring and trying to get both my screaming girls out of their seats, going back and forth trying to decide who needed me more.  It was sometime around then that I noticed blood all down my left forearm.  Somewhere in there, I had apparently thrown my hands up in front of my face, getting my arms burned and stripped by the airbag.  Mercifully, the 911 operator said someone else reported and I could hang up.  Even more mercifully, some unknown stranger came and unhooked my horn.

The cops and ambulance came very quickly (my insiders say they usually book it to a pregnant woman in an accident.)  They were talking to me, asking all the usual questions, and as you may be able to tell by now, my brain just was not working.  I keep thinking back to answers that I gave that were probably just not accurate. At all.  I got wrapped up a bit and checked, but had Jeff come get us and take us to the hospital instead of ambulancing it.  Our car was towed - crunched up, leaking and not going anywhere.  We were in and out in about 2 hours, maybe 3.  We got really briefly checked over, but I got a full on ultrasound.  The doctor said right away that he saw what he needed to.  The heartbeat was strong, and as before, he was moving all over the place the whole time.  That was really the big reason I wanted to go in to the ER.  I've felt him moving lots just like normal, but I still will be glad to go see my OB this week.

Our injuries consisted of little marks on the girls from the carseat belts (otherwise they were fine.) I have a seatbelt bruise/swell on my shoulder and across my hips, bruised knee, a steering wheel half moon on my tummy, the burns on my arms and general soreness. Insurance has already called and worked out our info, and all our hospital bills are taken care of, thank goodness.

So, our car was done, and we had been talking about getting a bigger car, anyway, as 3 carseats wouldn't be fitting in back of our mid-sized sedan.  I had been looking around a little, too, at some options.  For whatever reason, I let Jeff convince me to go straight from the hospital to the car dealership... I wouldn't recommend it - that was one long day.  We did, however, need a car and didn't want to put money into a rental while we let everything settle, when that money could be a down payment.  So... I looked at their options online in the way in and we test drove 2 minivans.  Same year, similar price, similar features.  We chose the one that was a little cheaper and had more features/options and leather seats (think 3 kids in carseats...)  It's a 2005 Chrysler Town & Country, and it was well taken care of.  We got a great payment and an interest rate that was a third of the other time we bought a car.  They even fixed some things and gave us free oil changes for a year and next year's registration.

I have to say, before we bought, I was definitely leaning toward a crossover or SUV, but when it came down to it the prices and mpgs did not agree with me.  It cool, our minivan is good.  I'm not so obsessedly in love with it the way other minivan drivers seem to be, but I really do like it and definitely think it's a good move for us.  (That is how I know I am getting old.... I have a minivan... and I like it!)
Here's the beauty.

All the things you can't see: power doors and back hatch, driver/passenger/rear ac controls, 6 CD player, seat warmers, 2nd and 3rd rows both fold into the floor for extra storage, built in DVD system.

Phew.  Now, here's hoping for a little mundane-itude for this week.