UPDATE Very mild car accident- Should I be seen by the midwife?

brownmouse · August 2014

So my daughter and I decided to go get Slurpees because of the heat. I'm 3 blocks from my house when the brakes on my husband old car (90's VW Golf) went completely out when coming up to a stop light and I rear ended the car in front of me. We hit them fairly hard (twice actually because the emergency brake didn't engage the first time I pulled it) but I was only going a Few miles per hour so it wasn't super serious. The front of my husband car is smashed but the other lady didn't have a scratch because it was so mild, and no police were called.

I have a call into my midwife, and I'm waiting for a call back, but I was wondering if I should even go in to be seen? I feel totally fine, and so did everyone else involved. Baby boy is kicking and wiggling as usual and everything feels normal. DD is also fine. Obviously if she wants to see me, I will go in right away, but my mother is convinced I need to head straight to the ER... I feel like that is way overkill.....

Of course the hormones took over as the lady got out of her car and yelled at me, and all I could do was ball my eyes out and called DH to come deal with the insurance stuff because I couldn't even talk. Luckily he only works a few blocks away. Lady probably thought I was crazy and ridiculous.

I am just glad I hit her at the light instead of after we started going since I was turning into the onramp for the freeway. Its super scary realizing that one stop light stopped DD and I from potentially dying if our breaks had gone out at 60mph on the freeway.

Edited for spelling and clarity. Words are hard.

UPDATE: Decided to go in because of a bad headache and slight cramping. They monitored us for a while, listened to the heartbeat, and checked my blood pressure and labs. Everything looks good, and there is no sign of anything wrong as of right now. On rest/pelvic rest until my appt next Tuesday to make sure everything is okay. I have a second A/S this Friday, so they added into my chart to pay extra attention to the placenta and such at the appt.

Thanks for the food thoughts and concerns ladies. The car might be done for, but at least everyone is okay.

lionyloo32 · August 2014

Oh my goodness! Glad you guys are okay! If it were me I would get checked out, just to be on the safe side.

caden1206 · August 2014

I say get checked. I hope everything is ok.

bombe4 · August 2014

Glad everyone is ok. I would wait for a call back from your midwife. I wouldn't go to the ER since you are still feeling fine and feeling baby kick.

RayRay007 · August 2014

I'm glad everyone is ok. I'm a wait and see kind of person anyway, so I'd wait to see if your MW wants you to come in. I wouldn't go rushing to the ER or anything given what you said in your OP.

AllTheTeaInChina · August 2014

Wait for a call back, see what your MW says. If you start cramping, spotting etc, head to the ER.

Depending on the car seat your DD is in, you may need to replace. Some manufacturers require replacing after any accident.

brownmouse · August 2014

AllTheTeaInChina said:
Wait for a call back, see what your MW says. If you start cramping, spotting etc, head to the ER.

Depending on the car seat your DD is in, you may need to replace. Some manufacturers require replacing after any accident.

Thank you for making me think of the car seat. Since it was mild crash it didn't even occur to me that I might have to replace it. I looked in our manual and it said to replace after any crash, so that one is now unusable. Since the car isn't worth much, my husband didn't have coverage for damage to his own car (we have bodily injury and coverage for others involved, just not for his car) so now we are going to be a one car family, ava won't bed a new seat since we have two. But what do you do with a car seat that sent in a crash? Throw it away?

bombe4 · August 2014

brownmouse said:

Wait for a call back, see what your MW says. If you start cramping, spotting etc, head to the ER.

Depending on the car seat your DD is in, you may need to replace. Some manufacturers require replacing after any accident.
But what do you do with a car seat that sent in a crash? Throw it away?

In terms of the car seat you need to have DH take a hammer or whatever he can to it and break it so it is completely unusable. Some people pick up car seats that they think look ok off the street and use them. You wouldn't want anyone to pick up a car seat that is deemed no longer suitable for use.

JRod13 · August 2014

Oh my goodness that is scary! Glad you are all ok. I think the ER is a little overkill since you feel fine- obviously if anything like cramping or bleeding starts, get you ass in there! As far as getting checked- I'd see what your ob has to say. They'll probably get you to come in just to be on the safe side.

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NerdyNurse · August 2014

I would go to the ER and have L&D do a NST to make sure the placenta is intact. We usually do 4 hours on the monitors for a fender bender.

leoandethansmom · August 2014

I'm glad y'all are doing ok! I was rear ended when I was 10 weeks back in May and DH's family is full of nurses who all made me go get checked. Of course it was a Sunday so I had to go to the ER. Anyways, in triage they kept asking how far along I was because they consider any pregnant woman in a car accident after 20 weeks a trauma patient no matter how fast the cars were going. I'm not sure if this is standard or just my hospital but I thought I'd share either way. Keep us posted!

AllTheTeaInChina · August 2014

brownmouse said:

AllTheTeaInChina said:
Wait for a call back, see what your MW says. If you start cramping, spotting etc, head to the ER.

Depending on the car seat your DD is in, you may need to replace. Some manufacturers require replacing after any accident.

Thank you for making me think of the car seat. Since it was mild crash it didn't even occur to me that I might have to replace it. I looked in our manual and it said to replace after any crash, so that one is now unusable. Since the car isn't worth much, my husband didn't have coverage for damage to his own car (we have bodily injury and coverage for others involved, just not for his car) so now we are going to be a one car family, ava won't bed a new seat since we have two. But what do you do with a car seat that sent in a crash? Throw it away?

Cut the straps, remove the cover, make it unusable. Another option, save it for BRU trade in event if you want to replace the seat or need gear for the new babe.

BabyRN2009 · August 2014

Yes I would go in. We also do 4 hrs on the monitor for any auto accident or fall/belly trauma, labwork and ultrasound to look for small tears in placenta. I fell to my hands and knees once in 3rd tri with DD1 (from standing...didn't even hit my belly) and my Dr made me go in...ended up staying 24hrs because I started contracting!! You may not have hit hard, but there was still force exerted. Sorry mama.

It's mostly just precautionary, but I wouldn't skip it.