Scary

It was Saturday, and we decided to go on a family bike ride. Travis was riding the road bike and I was following him while pulling the girls in the trailer behind me (cause that's just how it works in our family :). We had just barely started going down the hill by our house; when I decided I needed to get on the side walk. I started making my way over, and for some reason my bike started skidding. I think the angle of the bike trailer going down the hill caused my bike to skid, because there really wasn't much gravel, and I didn't ride over anything, but I couldn't stop. Finally my bike just tipped and off I went. 

I hit hard. It happened so slow. I remember bracing myself, but then just hitting my head on the road.  My helmet definitely protected me, but I did blackout for about 15 seconds. It was the weirdest thing, because I didn't loose consciousness, but the lights went out for a second. I tried so hard to get up, because I wanted to see if my girls were OK, but all I could do was lie on my back and wait. Finally, I came back. I looked over at the trailer, and it had tipped. Travis was getting our hysterical girls out. I looked at Avery and she seemed just fine, just shaken up, then I looked at Brooklyn and I gasped. She had a goose bump on her head. When I saw that, I just lost it. 

A nice couple who had seen the crash came over to help. Apparently, they called 911. Our cute little town of Riverside always goes above and beyond and so they sent 1 firetruck, 1 ambulance and about 5 cop cars. It was a spectacle! Within 2 minutes of the wreck, a handful of neighbors had run down to see what happened.  Avery was perfectly fine because the trailer tipped on Brooklyn's side, so she was actually having a hay day inside the ambulance. Brooklyn seemed fine besides her big bump on her head. After checking everyone out, we decided that we were all OK and didn't need to go to the hospital.

 It was about 7 pm, and so we decided to just lie on the couch and watch a movie together. At that point, Brooklyn started vomiting and wouldn't stop. We decided to take her into Children's Mercy hospital to make sure she didn't have a fracture. Before we left, Jim came over to help give a blessing to Brooklyn and me. It was really emotional. Nothing is worse in the world than seeing your baby hurt. You feel so helpless. 

Off to the hospital we went. Brandy watched Avery while we were gone. We got into the E.R. and waited; in the meantime, Brooklyn had barfed about 7 times. She was so lethargic, and kept falling asleep. When we got in, they immediately ordered a CT scan. We were really nervous because they said that most likely Brooklyn would need to be sedated because kids under 3 usually don't sit still. They said they would try first without sedating her, but if it didn't work than they would put her under. I really didn't want that to happen! So first try of the scan, and she was a champ. That was the stillest I had ever seen her. She didn't freak out or try to move. This was such a blessing. They got the shots they wanted and we went back to the waiting room.

 In the meantime, Brooklyn was still vomiting a lot. The doc came back in the room and told us that Brooklyn's CT scan was clear and diagnosed her with a concussion, but the doctor was still concerned about Brooklyn vomiting so much. They gave her some anti-nausea medicine and told us that if she threw up again than we would be admitted. We had to give it about an hour to see if the medicine worked. During that hour I started feeling the effects of the crash. My left arm was leaking pus along with my left hip and I was in pain!  Also, Brooklyn started acting like herself. She wouldn't sit still and was trying to touch everything in the room! After an hour, we were free to leave.

 Brandi had put Avery to sleep and cleaned up our house. What another blessing we had that night! We made a little bed for Brooklyn on the side of ours so we could make sure she was OK through the night and asleep we went! Brooklyn was just fine the next couple of days, but she did develop a really nice shiner! 

A couple things I learned during this experience 

1) even though your kids are strapped into a bike trailer with a 5-point harness, they still need to wear helmets. I always thought they would be caged in even if we tipped, but Brooklyn hit her head on the side of the road. So put helmets on your kids!!!

2) I already knew this, but I have the best neighbors and friends in the world. So many people offered help. From giving blessings to watching Avery to having meals brought to us from calls and texts making sure we were OK. I am so grateful to them!

3) Another thing I already knew, but it just made me realize was how much I love my kids. I realized that maybe I shouldn't always sweat the small stuff and to have more patience and less yelling. I'm so happy they both were OK.