The Green Cross Code

From my 2 kids being really young, I have stopped them at the kerbside and taught them the Green Cross Code. Each time they leave the house I tell them to "be carefull for the roads."
On Tuesday 27th July 2010, my biggest fear became reality so forgive me for this blog post but I needed to get it off my chest.

On Tuesday, my oldest daughter who is 15, was out with her mates but due home by 6pm. As usual, she rang and asked for an extra hour so we said that was fine. Just after 7pm, my partner got a phonecall from her saying she'd be a little late and asked if he could get on his mountain bike and peddle down to meet her - it's only about 10 mins away so off he went. I thought nothing more until 20 minutes later my phone rang and it was my other half telling me that his parents were coming to take me up to the hospital as our daughter had been knocked over!!
He was half way towards where she was when she rang him again, but he could hear lots of shouting etc and thought maybe she was having trouble as they kept asking who she was on the phone to. The shock hit him when he got there and saw her lying in the road with a few people standing round...the local shopkeeper had called an ambulance so my partner held her until it got there to check her over. Once the ambulance left with her, my partner, still on his mountain bike, peddled up behind it to the hospital where myself, my youngest and my mother in law were already waiting.
I did get to see her in the ambulance before they admitted her and thats when the tears came thick and fast! My baby was lying there with a full head brace etc on, blood trickling down her head and neck and her trousers ripped where the ambulance staff had to cut them loose.
I plodded off to A & E to give them her details, then sat waiting for about half an hour before I found out anything, never mind getting in to see her!!!
Eventually, I was taken to her. I walked in and she took one look at me then I noticed a few tears begin to roll....I wanted to wrap her in my arms and say that everything would be alright but was too scared in case I hurt her, so a gentle kiss and light hug were all I could give. She told me that she stepped off the kerb but had to step forward to see past another car and as she did this, she was hit! Turns out that the driver is a friend of ours and he waited with her till her dad arrived, whcih I am so grateful for as he was obviously in shock too.
The cut above her eye was quite bad and required a few stitches, she had stitches in one knee and bad cuts and grazes on the other knee. Her arms and sides are bruised quite badly too from the landing but alas, no broken bones! Considering the impact etc, she has been extremely lucky to escape with the injuries she has, it could have been alot worse!
Unbelievably, for those of you who believe in fate, my daughter wanted to wear her fave tshirt and jeans to go out, but they were dirty so she wore not so favourite things, i'd bought her new underwear last week so she was wearing this too and the lad who hit her usually drives a large jeep, but luckily it failed its MOT last week so he was driving a Saxo instead and to top it all off, our other mate is a taxi driver who is always working, but on Tuesday he'd decided to take the day off so helped us out with lifts etc.
Even more amazingly, my best friend's daughter was knocked over almost exactly 6 months ago to the day, she was hit by someone we all knew and was very lucky also to escape with just stitches to her head!!

The whole experience is the worst i've ever been through as a mother and it hurt even more when I saw how upset my partner was too - he doesn't often show emotion, but my oldest has always been a Daddy's Girl and it hit him really hard although he tried to stay strong for us.
I'm not sure quite how i'm going to be when she's fully recovered and asking to go out again...reckon i'll be a nervous wreck but unfortunately, I can't wrap her up in cotton wool for the rest of her life - although i'd love to!!
Massive THANKYOU for all the lovely messages and well wishes on twitter, you are all fantastic and really helped.
Please feel free to leave a comment - I do read them all and don't mind answering any questions too :-)