Thursday, December 08, 2005

Fear

As always I'm rushing around this morning. I just gave Damien a bath since he had cereal cream stuck in those cute fat rolls on his neck. Laying him down in his bed naked while I searched for his lavender lotion was a bad idea as he peed right in his face making him gasp for air. Whoops! I never found the lotion but I cleaned him up with a washcloth and dressed him for the day. As I'm slipping on his pants I get a phone call so I run to the Caller ID to see who it is. It's Dave so I pick up. "Hello." I could tell he was a bit paranoid and upset.

Dave: "There's been a bus accident off of 56th and K96!" (This is about 3 miles from my house)
Me: "What?" Bricks just landed on my chest. "Are you sure? Did you hear it on the radio? Are you there??" Having a hard time breathing now.
Dave: "No I'm in Wichita on the road. Shawn just called me because he passed by it."
Me: Trying to convince myself otherwise. "It couldn't have been her bus, I think they go another way to school or atleast they used to. They went that way last year though. "
Dave: "Are you sure? You need to call around and find out what the hell's going on. I'm at the point right now of just coming home."
Me: Hands shaking at a point where I almost drop the phone. "I don't know, I'll call the school."

First before totally freaking out I called the radio station. His response, "I'm not sure if there was an accident but I do know that a few of the Nickerson buses are late to the schools because of the snow. We'll have our news team check into it." I called the school and asked the receptionist if she knew what was going on. She says she does know of one accident but it was on another stretch of the highway and there were 2 cars and one of their buses with only the driver. Someone overhears her on the phone with me and she says "I believe that accident was only with the bus driver as well, no children involved." Thank you Jesus! I have never been so scared in my life. Ever since this year when she started riding the "big bus" I have had a fear of a bus accident and her being thrown from the bus because of no seatbelts. I don't understand why the government doesn't make it mandatory for ALL buses to have seatbelts. Would you believe that most small buses don't either? How would I know? Because I used to work in the office for Collins Bus, the world's leading mini bus manufacture. All the small Collins and Midbuses you see will have seatbelts in them but these big buses such as Thomas, Carpenter, Blue Bird....nope. And why is that? They would contest that because the buses are so large that an impact would hardly effect a bus. Oh yes, and that's why a little girl and bus driver was killed after their bus being T boned by a big rig last year? What about a roll over accident? Is that 1/2 inch pad of upholstery on those seats supposed to protect the kids from tumbling over each other while broken glass fills the bus? The fact is that these accidents have happened here in Kansas the past few years yet nothing is done to protect our kids. Yes lets put all the kids on the USDA food program at schools feeding them nutritious foods for their bodies then send them home on a traveling deathmobile. Does that make sense??

It's frustrating. If I could, I would drive the 10 minutes every morning and take her to school but doing daycare and having 6 kids to load in the minivan, it's a bit time consuming. I'd have to start 45 minutes before school started just to get us there on time. I was pretty lucky yesterday when it first started snowing that Alex stayed home with another ear infection. Had more good luck when her Dr told me he'd just call in Omnicef for her instead of having me take her in for an appointment. I love their ped, what a guy!

So now after having the shit scared out of me this morning, I wonder what else is in store for me. Damien was really upset last night, believe it may be teething. Nothing would soothe him. I tried to cradle him but he bowed his back out so much he was nearly standing on my lap. Finally after giving him gas drops, Tylenol, Orajel, and walking him around the house he shut up. Today, so far, he seems to be better.

2 comments:

Colleen said...

Glad everything turned out all right.

Those boots were at Payless. I don't think they make them for boys, but you can try "Sherpa boots, infant" on Google.

Thanks for the comment!

Rhea said...

How Scary! I'm glad everything is okay!