What should have been a normal "boring" (have I mentioned I love normal boring weeks) turned out to be the most
stressful and insane week of my life. Wednesday afternoon was the day I had been waiting for, it was our growth ultrasound and best of all we were going to get 4/d pictures. Little Claire is growing right on schedule in the 65% percentile at 3 pounds 4 ounces and everything looked great. Our stubborn and sleepy girl (like her Daddy) refused to show us her pretty face during 4/d. She was knocked smooth out with her hands covering her face. I tried jumping up and down, eating strawberries, poking at her etc., but she refused to move her hands. My dear friend
Bekah (who is also the
sonographer) told me to come back on my lunch break on Thursday and we would try again. We left to go home for a brief break before we had to head back to the hospital to start our childbirth class. That is when the scariest moment of my life happened.
Eric and I were in our
seperate vehicles since Eric met me at the appointment from work. On the way home Eric stopped at Sonic to get us a snack before we had to go to childbirth class and I continued on my way home. About 5 miles from our house a lady ran a
redlight and t-boned my Jeep on the driver's side. As my car was flipping (or rolling or doing whatever it did) all I could do is cry out to God to please keep my baby girl safe. I know it was only a few seconds before my vehicle came to a stop, but it felt like it was in slow motion. Somehow my vehicle landed up right in the grassy area in front of a gas station. At that point people ran over to my vehicle to see if I was alright. I told them I was fine, but that I was 29 weeks pregnant and very concerned about my baby girl. I somehow located my phone in time to call Eric before he had a chance to drive up on the accident. He cancelled his Sonic order and came quickly (although at the time it seem to take ages). It then dawned on me that when all of this happened I was on the phone with my Mom! I quickly called her and told her I was in an accident (which she
unfortunately heard happen) and I was
ok that I would call her back as soon as I could. I then called
Bekah and text
Bekah that there was an emergency to call me.
Bekah called back immediately, but by this time I was already talking to the office and the EMS.
Bekah told Eric to get me to St. Luke's immediately. It was obvious immediately that God's hand was on the entire accident. The area where the accident happened was right in front of several of our dear friends' neighborhood including our pastor's neighborhood. Eric called our sweet friends Daniel and Emily and Emily was home and immediately came running.
Bekah was standing within feet of my OB talking to Eric so my doctor knew immediately something had happened.
The ride to the hospital seemed to take forever. Thanks to Daniel and Emily following shortly to the hospital with Eric's truck, Eric was allowed to ride in the ambulance, but not in the back with me to the hospital. The ER doc examined me and I was fine other than a few ugly bruises and was able to get Claire's heartbeat on the
doppler, the best sound in the world.
Bekah was able to meet us shortly in the ER with my medical records and stood by me the majority of the evening which meant more to me than she will ever know. My doctor wanted to admit me for an overnight stay to monitor me and Claire. So I made my first trip to labor and delivery (much earlier than I ever wanted to). They hooked me and Claire up to the monitors and by a miracle from God Claire's heartbeat was excellent and she was active and moving. The bad thing was I was having several contractions and didn't realize it. The doctor said that it was most likely due to my uterus being irritated from the accident and by 9:00 they had stopped.
The next morning they hooked me and Claire back up to the monitors for a while. Claire looked great, but I did have a few more contractions (I did sorta feel one). They gave me a magic pill to settle my uterus down which worked perfectly. Later that morning they did an ultrasound on Claire and she looked beautiful and I was headed home! Thankfully my sweet mother in law and Dennis came down and Jena was able to help out with laundry and housework as I was quite sore from the accident. I had strict instructions from my doctor to take it easy until Tuesday.
I had a follow up appointment on Saturday morning to monitor Claire for a bit and make sure I wasn't contracting anymore as well as to repeat the ultrasound to double check on Claire. I knew something was up when the nurse asked me after the ultrasound had I been leaking any fluid, which to my knowledge I had not. Shortly thereafter I got the bad news that I had to stay in the hospital overnight again! The amniotic fluid had decreased 50% since Thursday! They wanted to monitor me and Claire continuously overnight and repeat the ultrasound in the morning to see if the fluid was increasing or decreasing. Luckily my parents had come in that morning because by this point I had remained surprisingly calm, but this news was just too much and I had a small breakdown. All I could to was
continuously pray to God to take care of my little girl. I knew if she had to be delivered at this point she would be small, but she would most likely be
ok. Even with this knowledge I begged God to keep her in my belly as close to term as possible.
God answered my prayers with a "yes". The next morning the fluid level had risen and I got to go home. Not quite the 4
th of July I anticipated, but at this point I didn't care. I had the ultrasound repeated again on Tuesday and the fluid was back up to where it was prior to the accident and the doctor checked to make sure I wasn't leaking (which I wasn't).
I'm don't know what I would have done throughout all of this without my wonderful husband. I know he had several moments where he wanted to break down with me, but he remained my rock through it all. God has been at the center of this entire ordeal. We have so many wonderful friends and family who have continuously prayed for us and with us. Seeing the power of prayer in action how faithful God is has been utterly amazing. There are no words to describe it. We continue to pray for Claire to grow healthy and to thrive and to stay put for around 2 more months. I am praying that one day I may know the reason for this to have happened. It is so hard for me to comprehend. I know even if I don't ever know the reason that God allowed it to happen for his glory.
Thank you so much to everyone who has prayed with us and for us. We love you all.
