When we started to roll, I shut my eyes. When the car stopped, I opened the my eyes again and tried to process everything that had just occurred. Our car was laying on the driver's side in the snow. William was seated next to me and was crying loudly. I looked him over quickly and he appeared scared, but unhurt. I took a moment and assessed myself and found I didn't have any pain either. I looked in the front of the car and saw John was bleeding, but his eyes were open and he was moving around. I then looked forward to the windshield and saw it was smashed in and a man was standing in front of it, asking if we were okay. I was startled that someone else was there to help before I even figured out what it was we needed. Someone else was there before I even had a chance to decide we needed to get out of the car - that is how quickly we had help. The stranger and John pushed the shattered windshield out of the way and he was able to climb out of the car. Another stranger pulled open the back hatch of the car and asked if we were okay. I reported that I thought we were but I needed to get out toddler out before I could get out myself. I started moving to pull William out of his carseat. He wasn't wearing shoes or his jacket, but I handed him out to the stranger in the back of the car. He was still crying. I was only wearing one shoe (I had taken one shoe off after getting back in the car) and was trying to located the other shoe. It was loud. I could hear cars driving by, William crying and people yelling at me to get out of the car and asking if I needed help. I kept yelling out to them I was fine and I was trying to find a shoe. I found my shoe (and noticed my unzipped purse was tipped upside down on the seat). I left everything but my shoe and climbed out of the car on my own.
Standing up outside of the car, I could tell everything was fine. My neck was stiff, but not in any pain anywhere. I got a few reassuring bumps from the baby inside that allowed me to turn my attention to the rest of the situation. Two women were holding William. One had him in her arms and the other was standing behind him trying to hold his head still. He was outraged about the person trying to hold his head still and was crying/yelling very loudly. John was sitting on the ground next to the car holding William's sleep sack against his hand. This was the first time I realized his hand was hurt at all. I didn't ever see the injury on his hands until many days later (I am okay with that). He had small rivers of blood running down his head all the way around. John looked kind of dazed, but he had 3 different people around him asking questions and helping him.
John and I had not spoken to each other all, but I felt that William needed me most at that moment. I went to the women holding him and they eagerly turned him over to me. Someone had called 911 and the dispatch had instructed them to keep our heads still by holding onto our necks until medical professionals had arrived. William was very, very upset. He kept saying over and over again: Oh no! Car! Oh no! Car! Daddy! Oh no! Oh no! Car! Daddy! Oh no! Finally, I turned my body so that he couldn't see the car or John sitting next to the car. He continued to cry, but was not as upset.
There were people everywhere. I am guessing that somewhere between 15-20 people were running around in the median of the highway offering their assistance to our little family. People calling emergency services, people picking Christmas gifts up from the snow, people working with John until medical help arrived, people offering assistance to myself and William. Some of the people were completely freaked out and in disbelief that we were okay. John and I were probably the most calm people on the scene of our own accident. Someone asked me if there was anything I wanted from inside the car. I told them I needed my purse with all of my identification/insurance cards/phones inside it. Someone retrieved my purse - my wallet was missing. Someone else found a cell phone in the snow and handed it to me. People continued to search for my wallet (I thought I was going to need it in order to call my insurance company and get towing for the car. At this point, I thought we would all go to the local ER and be checked out and released an hour or so later because I thought our injuries were relatively minor).
One person stopped to ask me if anyone nearby would be able to come and retrieve our belongings. At that point it hit me that our car wasn't a very secure location to leave things with about half of the windows missing and the snow starting to fall. As I looked around I found that there was a lot of our stuff that was falling out of the broken windows and into the snow. I also realized that they weren't going to let me stand on the side of the road and go through my belongings piece by piece before bringing us in for medical attention. The third thing I realized at this point was I had NO IDEA where we were. So, I had to ask them. Iowa City was the response. In that case the answer was a big NO. We didn't have anyone nearby who could swing by and pick up our belongings. Suddenly a guy stepped out of the crowd and introduced himself as the Fire Chief from the volunteer fire department of Hills, IA. He offered to call in his daughter with a Jeep to load our belongings to take to the fire department in Hills (just a few miles south of Iowa City. When we were ready to leave town, we could swing by and pick up our things. I don't know if I've ever been so thankful for someone. He left me about 15 phone numbers to get ahold of him and reassured me that everything would be taken care of.
Someone else asked me if there was anything in the median that I recognized as ours that should be retrieved. When I looked up and down the median, all I could see were little brown circles standing out on the white snow - cookies. I was bringing John's dad a huge batch of monster cookies, probably about 12-16 dozen. It appeared that every single container had broken open and spread themselves across the median. I told the people that they were my cookies, but I didn't want anyone to pick them up. I looked quickly and saw a few totally demolished Christmas presents in the snow and didn't recognize anything else as valuable and/or ours. I didn't have a whole lot of time to look as an ambulance had arrived on the opposite side of the highway. It had maybe been 2-3 minutes since the time of our accident.
(At the time, I didn't understand why the ambulance would have come to the opposite side of the highway. I thought our car had rolled over once and stayed next to the highway, somehow. Turns out we started out on the other side of the highway and rolled to the opposite side across the median. Whoever saw us start to roll called EMS and told them we were going Northbound and that is where the ambulance came to. However, our car stopped right next to the Southbound side of the highway and we had to be moved through the snow several hundred feet to the ambulance. It wasn't until much later in the evening when John and I finally had an opportunity to talk about things and read the police report that I/we realized we had rolled multiple times across the median. When we realized how spectacular our accident was, we suddenly understood WHY all those people had been in such a panic. They saw us roll spectacularly across the median and then walk out of the car with pretty minor injuries.)
The ambulance works asked about William's condition and then mine. William was wrapped up in blankets (his coat was still in the car) and he was still sobbing. After answering all their questions, they decided it was in our best interest for me to carry William back across the median through the snow to sit in the ambulance where it was warm (and out of the way). As soon as we got in the ambulance, William immediately stopped crying - just little hiccups here and there. He snuggled into my side and sat quietly on the bench in the back of the ambulance. Once it was quiet, I realized we were going to need some help getting ourselves and our belongings anywhere - so I pulled out the phone someone had picked up from the snow and called my poor mother. I didn't have very much information for her except that we had had an accident and our car wasn't going to be able to get us to Rochester. I told her I thought we were going to be taken to a hospital for evaluation and for John to get cleaned up. I told her that our injuries were minimal - but needed to be checked out. I thought by the time they got to us, we would be ready and waiting. My mom deserves a medal because she took the news very calmly and told me to call when I had more information. She would get things pulled together ASAP and hit the road with my dad as soon as they were ready.
During the phone call, the medical professionals were all assisting with John. I don't really know what they were doing as William was glued to my side. William and I sat in the ambulance for awhile while (I assume) they prepped John for transport. During this down time, I dawned on me that I had not told anyone yet about our pregnancy. I was dressed for traveling: roomy sweats and long sleeve T shirt topped by my Arctic grade winter coat. You would be hard pressed to tell what gender I was let alone the fact I was 26 weeks pregnant. Let us just say that I was in BIG trouble for not reporting this fact immediately. No one was reassured by the fact that I felt fine and I was absolutely certain that nothing was wrong with me. People started to hustle around a little quicker and William and I were left alone again while they worked to get John across the median safely through the snow. In the quiet moment, I knew that there wasn't any way I was going to be able to remember these moments accurately...everything had happened so quickly. I started wishing I could take a picture of the scene. Along the way, someone had brought our [large and expensive] digital camera to the ambulance for safe keeping along with my wallet and William's favorite security blanket (still no shoes). However, by the time I thought about taking a picture, they were getting ready to load John into the ambulance. I didn't think the medical professionals were going to be very understanding about my wanting to take a souvenir photograph of the scene before we sought medical attention. Especially after my slip on the pregnancy bit.
William was strapped into the built in car seat (so neat! I didn't know they had these!) and provided with a stuff giraffe from the ambulance driver and sheriff stickers from the undercover police man who had stopped to help. John was loaded into the ambulance and I belted myself in. Although I think he would have normally liked it, William got a little shook up again when the ambulance turned on the siren to take us to the hospital. This was my first opportunity to talk to John since the accident - and I didn't know what to say. There were 3 medical professionals and William in the back with us. So, I think I just said "Hi" and "We're all okay" and then I kept a running commentary for William to distract him from everything going on.
When we got to the hospital, they unloaded John and I carried William into the emergency/tramua area. John was wheeled into one room and I started to follow. The nurse stopped me and told me it would be better for everyone if we could have seperate rooms. William wouldn't be as freaked out, the doctors could focus on helping John and I would be seen to a little more quickly. Although I wasn't happy about being seperated, I went along with it. Our log in time at the hospital was around 12:35. I didn't know it, but I wouldn't be seeing John for another 3 hours.
William was checked out in a matter of minutes by a nurse/doctor team. They were gentle and quickly pronouced him okay. They told me to keep an eye on him for anything unusual for the next 48 hours in case something came up. Then it was my turn. My neck was a little stiff and sore which landed me on a back board with a neck brace. Several nurses took turns with William, finally taking him out in the hall to watch the cars drive by while I was being examined. They put me in a hospital gown (didn't even get to take my own clothes off) and felt up my spinal column for injuries.
The nurses fed William lunch and changed his diaper for me. Everyone was being so nice - but really I just wanted to hold my baby and be with my husband. I felt helpless laying there and trying to describe where exactly inside the diaper bag the raisins and diapers were located. Laying on my back is very uncomfortable at this stage of pregnancy - but due to the possible back injury I had to stay put on my back. I was getting crabby. Different nurses floated in and out of the room holding William so I could see him and him me. Everytime someone came into the room, I would ask for information about John. At one point (the when is fuzzy), someone reported that John was doing well, but was going to have to lose part of his finger. THIS MOMENT was the first time I realized that John had more than just cuts and bruises. I asked to see John and....well nothing happened. I was still strapped to a back board with a neck brace with a hospital gown loosely tucked around my body. An ultrasound machine was wheeled into the room and I had to remind everyone many times that this baby HAD to be a surprise. No one could tell me the gender of the baby - especially when John was down the hall having his life changed.
It was incredibly frustrating and....well frustrating to not be able to do anything or be with John while a huge decision was being made. I called my parents again to update them and they suggested it might be time to call John's dad. They offered and I agreed. An IV was started (AHHH!!! I HATE needles! I tried to talk them out of it, but no luck) and blood was drawn. A family from the scene of the accident showed up at the ER with items for us. They brought John a new sweatshirt, William a Mickey Mouse doll and Spiderman Slippers. They had a notebook, pen and M&M's for me. We visited for a few minutes and it became clear that they had witnessed our accident with their (7ish year old) son in the car. I couldn't bring myself to ask them about what happened to us. It didn't feel real anymore. Eventually I was taken for X Rays of my neck to rule out injury (with double lead covering for NewBaby). People coming in and out of my room would ask as they were leaving if I needed anything. My response: I need to see my husband. After the X Ray, my wish was finally granted.
John was just in the room next door and he wasn't losing a finger. He had enough feeling in his fingertip that the doctors had decided to reattach it. They weren't sure if it was going to be something that could be saved - only time would be able to tell. We were told that John would need to see a hand surgeon 24-48 hours after the accident to determine what would happen next. John and I visited quietly while a doctor continued to sew his finger. I reassured him that I was okay, William was okay, Newbaby was kicking and rolling around. We held hands as well as we could through the rails of our beds. I couldn't see him because I was still strapped in a neck brace. John told me that he was going to be okay, finger or not. I told John the doctors needed a minimum of 4 hours of fetal monitoring before they would discharge me to leave - I needed to get a start on that so we could eventually go home. With that, I was wheeled out of his room and back to mine.
Nurses packed up all the stuff we had brought in the ambulance (which turned out to be a lot) and loaded up my bed. They threw William on the bed for good measure and took me upstairs to Labor and Delivery to begin my monitoring. The nurse pushing my bed asked me if I would mind making a quick stop. I agreed - really, what else was I going to do? I was stuck in bed and she was in charge. When the elevator stopped, she took William just outside the elevator doors and I heard him squeal excitedly : "HELICOPTER!" The two of them stood and admired the helicopter for several minutes while I layed in bed hoping the doors wouldn't close and whisk me away to another area.
My room in L&D was big and private. The nurses lifted me to a new bed (come ON already people! I could have done it myself!) and started the monitoring after some more personal examininations. By this time (nearly 3pm) I was both starving and had to use the restroom. I wasn't allowed to eat until my bloodwork was cleared and I was offered a bedpan. I didn't have to go that bad, so I waited it out. After nearly escaping into the hall, unplugging my monitors, resetting the computer and calling the nurses' station twice all in under 8 minutes, help arrived. An assistant was brought in to help me with William, videos were aquired to help entertain him, and milk and crackers were brought to keep his belly full. Several times during my monitoring session I had been in contact with my parents. The weather in southern MN and northern IA was blizzard conditions. It should have taken them 3 hours to get to Iowa City, but the snow was slowing them down. We made plans for my mom to go be with John in the ER and ask as many questions as humanly possible about his condition and follow up care before fetching from my L&D tower room.
Roughly an hour into things my labs cleared and X Rays were read. I was able to go to the bathroom by myself (luxury!) and I was able to eat something. I ordered dinner for William and myself and my lovely assistant went off shift. I had a little bit of freedom, but it was a struggle to stay in the bed with the monitor on me while holding the wiggle worm that is my son. At roughly 6:15pm, John walked into the room. William yelled "Daddy" and I cried. We were both so happy to see him. John looked terrible - he was bandaged and his head was pretty bloody. We hugged and I let him know what was going on with us. I was relieved to finally have some help with William until me parents could arrive - I called to update them about our locations to find out they were very close by. Then I was able to get busy. I called the towing company who took car of our car to find out what we needed to do. I called our insurance company to report the accident and the location of our car. We fed William some dinner and ate a little bit ourselves. During this short time, I realized that John wasn't going to be able to handle William as normal with his hand injuries. He was unable to pick William up or use his left hand to complete tasks at all.
At about 6:40pm, my mom and brother were brought into my room. There was more excited yelling by William and some tears on my part. We put them right to work. William was handed over to grandma (they were both glad about this arrangement) and John went with my dad and brother to the tow yard to pick up our belongings from the car, to the firehouse to pick up our presents and then to purchase a new carseat for William (after an accident you can't keep using the same one). We thought I would be discharged around 7:30ish and we would be on our way.
A doctor came in before I was to be discharged to talk things over with us. The monitor had picked up two short decellerations of the baby's heartbeat in the four hours of monitoring. The doctor thought this was probably due to the baby moving and the heartrate monitor picking up my slower heartrate instead. However, since they couldn't be sure, I had to stay on the monitors for an additional two hours from when the last decelleration had occurred. The earliest I could be leaving was now 9pm. Driving back to Rochester for the night was becoming less and less of a possibility.
The nurse staff changed over and a new nurse came in to introduce herself. We visited for a few moments and she commented about me leaving in the morning. This was news to me! We asked for some clarification and she left to find us some answers. I was starting to panic. I needed to be with John and William. We needed each other after everything we had been through and John wasn't able to take care of William on his own. Another ultrasound machine was wheeled into my room and we again discussed the gender surprise requirement. The doctors wanted to look again at our placenta and check the fluid levels around the baby to be sure they weren't causing the decellerations. Everything checked out perfectly and we were left to wait.
Just after 9, the nurse came back and told us that I would be free to leave as long as we were staying in the immediate area and I would come right back to hospital if I experienced anything out of the ordinary. I made my promises and packed up our stuff quickly before they had time to change their minds.
We checked into a hotel for the night and put William to bed. It was about 10:30pm - over 2 hours past his bedtime. He fell asleep quickly and John and I went through 2 huge plastic trash bags of our stuff that had been rescued from the car. William woke up screaming and wouldn't go back to sleep at 11:30pm, so I snuggled him in next to me in the big bed. He fell asleep immediately.
The next morning we cleared up some details (back to firehouse for some forgotten items) and then drove on to Rochester. The roads were still not great and I was on edge the whole way - it was not a trip that I would want to take again soon. Before we left Iowa City, I briefly considered moving our family to Iowa City and taking public transportation for the rest of our lives. On the way to Rochester, I tried to work out something similar so we wouldn't ever have to ride in a car again. I have never been so glad to get out of the car when we got to my parents' house and promised myself I wouldn't be getting in a car again anytime soon.
We'll just call this section photographic proof.
After John was discharged from the hospital and my parents arrived, they went to the towing yard to salvage what they could from the inside of my car. Keep in mind by this time it was dark, snowing and very very cold outside. John had a very very injured hand and was trying to take pictures of the car as we were pretty sure we weren't going to be seeing it again.
Poor Clifford, we'll miss you (Clifford the Big Red Truck)
Front view: shattered windsheild
More windshield, possibly what cut John's hand?
Front of the car from the inside. Obviously, it sat out in the snow for most of the day. John, my dad and brother had to dig through the broken glass and snow to find our stuff inside.
A very bashed up driver's side
More driver's side. Caved in roof, smashed windows, dented in sides.
And the almost untouched passenger side where William was riding. Amazing, no?Injuries
We don't have any pictures of ourselves until a few days after the accident. Not surprising, but we were just operating in survival mode. So, I've pulled these pictures from our stash.
December 23rd: McGarry Rochester Christmas. John had just been discharged from the hospital. You can see his casted arm from his surgery.
This picture shows both William's and my injuries very well. Mine is the dark spot on the side of my face next to my right eye. William's is the small dark spot above his right eye. Keep in mind, William had a HUGE run in with our coffee table before the accident happened. That injury is the largish bruise next to his right eye.
December 24: John's staples. Hard to see through his hair, but he had a total of 9 staples.
The cuts on the other side. Still hard to see through all his hair.
December 30th: The left hand 8 days after surgery
December 30: right and left hand comparison 8 days after surgery.
December 23rd: McGarry Rochester Christmas. John had just been discharged from the hospital. You can see his casted arm from his surgery.
This picture shows both William's and my injuries very well. Mine is the dark spot on the side of my face next to my right eye. William's is the small dark spot above his right eye. Keep in mind, William had a HUGE run in with our coffee table before the accident happened. That injury is the largish bruise next to his right eye.
December 24: John's staples. Hard to see through his hair, but he had a total of 9 staples.
The cuts on the other side. Still hard to see through all his hair.
December 30th: The left hand 8 days after surgery
December 30: right and left hand comparison 8 days after surgery.
