We had an accident with a semi

marchofemily · Mar 11, 2013

My kids are 10 & 3 now. On Feb 26th we had a semi truck hit us on the interstate. I am so grateful to God for sparing us and that I have always made the best carseat decisions possible for my kids. My daughter passes the 5-step test and my son is RF. It's been 2wks and my daughter and I have finally made a turning point in our recovery. Lots of rest and chiropractor appointments

I made a website with all the details and pictures. I know there's a few gals that have really wonderful safety websites and I'd like to link people to them through my site. If that's you, could you please post your link and permission to add it to my site? My website is not finished at all, but I just wanted something to be able to share with others easily so they can learn from our untragic outcome. The concussion I have has made it difficult to do some things, so I just add and edit a bit at a time for now. I'll be adding pages of pictures of kids ERF, EH and older kids in boosters eventually.
www.rearfacingrocks.webs.com

tjham · Mar 12, 2013

That is amazing and so wonderful that you all came out relatively unhurt! I have no links to share but lots of hugs! :hug:

Carrie_R · Mar 12, 2013

So glad you are all okay!!!

Stelvis · Mar 12, 2013

I'm glad you're okay! And jealous of your 3 year old's torso that allows him to still be RF in a Britax!

marchofemily · Mar 12, 2013

Thank you all.

Stelvis, my son actually has a growth disorder that makes him grow very slow. He wore 0-3 at 1yo. It's a skeletal delay and causes his whole body to be younger than his actual age, so even though he is 3.5yo, his body is approximately half his age. Makes it SO much more important to keep him RF as long as possible.

MommyShannon · Mar 12, 2013

So touching. So glad you are all relatively ok. Such a great testimony for the safety of rear facing.

thtr4me · Mar 12, 2013

So glad to hear that you guys are going to be okay! Cannot imagine how scary that must have been.

And thank you so much for showing all the pics on your blog! At least 2 of my 4 adopted siblings had one of those white "bucket" car seats. My mom loved that thing! It was actually more useful out of the car than in it lol!

Carrie_R · Mar 12, 2013

marchofemily said:
Thank you all.

Stelvis, my son actually has a growth disorder that makes him grow very slow. He wore 0-3 at 1yo. It's a skeletal delay and causes his whole body to be younger than his actual age, so even though he is 3.5yo, his body is approximately half his age. Makes it SO much more important to keep him RF as long as possible.

Tara, I am so glad you know about RFing. Knowing this it is even more likely that your knowledge saved your son. Honestly, despite having seen it numerous times now, I am still so astonished at seeing the "bad crash, RFer unharmed" scenario yet again. It is crazy to me what an amazing method of protection it is - and that so many people downplay it as "not a big deal."

It's okay to share this on FB, right?

Kecia · Mar 12, 2013

Oh my! (((Gentle HUGS)))

Thank you for sharing your story and I hope you're feeling back to normal soon. Also, I mention this to everyone who has survived a scary crash with (or even w/o) kids in the vehicle. Be on the lookout for signs of post traumatic stress. I had it really bad after my first serious crash and while it didn't keep me from driving it did torture me every time I got in the car for many months after the crash.

There is a blog that I wrote on the subject and in it a link to a wonderful site from CHOP dedicated to the subject: http://carseatblog.com/3795/helping-your-child-cope-after-a-crash/

HTH!

jjordan · Mar 12, 2013

Wow, I'm glad you are all okay! It is amazing and a testament to the safety of RF that your son wasn't at all hurt!

marchofemily · Mar 12, 2013

Share away! Please sign the guestbook and encourage others too as well. I want people to realize that there are MANY that are doing the SAFEST possible for their children.

You know, even almost 11 years ago when my daughter was little, I kept her RF until 26mo. She was petite and it just seemed like the right thing to do. There wasn't any info out back then that I was exposed to saying that it is safest, it was just common sense.She went for a 20lb rear-adjust 3pt snugride (remember those? The 5pt harness was just starting to be released at the time!), and then she moved into an Alpha Omega Elite, AOE. She was in that seat until she was 4, and then a Marathon

Anyway, 2 days before she turned 2yo, we were t-boned at 40mph in town. She was RF. No injuries. I hurt awful for a long time and had to wear a neck brace. I replaced her carseat immediately (much to the dismay of my family!) with another AOE. Guess what? Not even 3mo later we were rear-ended by a nun! She was RF and slept through the accident and awoke to the firefighters and paramedics taking me out on a stretcher! I was in bad shape again with my neck. This time my family said not a word about me replacing her carseat. Here I am, a single Mommy for 11yrs taking care of it all on my own. I did NOT have much money way back then, but you prioritize and get things taken care of.
So now we've been hit by a semi and again, my RFer is completely fine!

People need to stop testing my carseats! lol! None of the accidents were my fault!

marchofemily · Mar 12, 2013

Thank you Kecia. I am going to read that in a bit and share it on my site. I am definitely having hard time. A car will catch me and make me think they are turning into my lane and I have swerved once and jumped in my skin plenty of times. I am really limiting my driving. So weird because I am not a jumpy person. I've been having some awful nightmares. One of them that was the most awful and I actually awoke in a cold sweat and tears running down my face. I was pulling into a parking spot at a restaurant when I man got out of the car on the side of me. He pulled out a gun and shot me in the neck, only it sounded like the car crash. Then he watched in awe as I reversed and drove away. Crazy dream but it was so real and terrifying to me. I've never ever awoke from a dream like that before.

One day at a time. The Chiropractor has been amazing. I am feeling quite well now actually but being very careful yet. My Dad was a Chiropractor, but he passed away suddenly 12yrs ago in February. I'll be adding a few pictures that we took when we went to visit his grave during the 10 days I had my new car, it's parked in the background and so pretty looking : )

embassykh · Mar 12, 2013

How scary! Did you find the semi that hit you? What did he/she have to say for themselves?g

marchofemily · Mar 12, 2013

I should be getting their info soon here. It looks like the police report is done since I had started getting advertisements from attorney's. I have already retained a lawyer though.

cookie123 · Mar 12, 2013

I was also wondering if they got the semi guy. I hope you guys continue to do well. I am so happy to hear the outcome of the crash was not a tragic one. PT & P to you guys.

marchofemily · Mar 12, 2013

The police did find the other driver at the rest area. I'm waiting to hear back from my lawyers office on getting the police report and moving forward. She said that after getting the report she would work on getting me another car quickly.

So, my 2nd car payment comes out of my account on the 16th. Not sure what to do about all of that. Ugh. I guess I will be calling tomorrow.

murphydog77 · Mar 12, 2013

Tara, so glad to hear that you guys are mostly OK! A concussion isn't something to take lightly for sure, but it could have been so much worse but with your knowledge, you knew how to keep everyone safe. See, all these years of hanging around carseat boards are worth it!

ketchupqueen · Mar 12, 2013

I'm so glad you're all going to be ok... Will the other driver be charged with hit-and-run for leaving the scene?

Kecia · Mar 12, 2013

marchofemily said:
Thank you Kecia. I am going to read that in a bit and share it on my site. I am definitely having hard time. A car will catch me and make me think they are turning into my lane and I have swerved once and jumped in my skin plenty of times. I am really limiting my driving. So weird because I am not a jumpy person. I've been having some awful nightmares. One of them that was the most awful and I actually awoke in a cold sweat and tears running down my face. I was pulling into a parking spot at a restaurant when I man got out of the car on the side of me. He pulled out a gun and shot me in the neck, only it sounded like the car crash. Then he watched in awe as I reversed and drove away. Crazy dream but it was so real and terrifying to me. I've never ever awoke from a dream like that before.

Oh, yeah.... I didn't have nightmares (that I can recall anyway) but everything else you're describing is very similar to what I experienced. It did finally dissipate and then go away entirely but it probably took the better part of 6 months. And I clearly remember that the jumpiness and fear was worse if someone else was driving because then I felt like I had absolutely no control over the situation.

Anyhow, the thing with post-traumatic stress is to realize what it is. Remind yourself that it's normal under the circumstances and to talk to someone about it if it starts to get worse or if you start seeing the symptoms carry over into other parts of your daily life.

More (((HUGS)))!

marchofemily · Mar 12, 2013

I'm not sure about that. There was definitely plenty of space for the semi to stop there, especially if they thought the roads were as good for how fast they were going. The driver had to go across 3 lanes and cut in front of the car and other semi in order to get off at the rest area. Makes me mad. How were they to even assume that we were okay??? I knew that I hit my head once (from the pain) but then the next morning I had pain in two areas of my head. How glad I am that I didn't hit hard enough to lose consciousness completely. I try so hard to remember the few missing seconds of the crash but I really can't.

We had an accident with a semi

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