Overprotective Mama???? I THINK NOT!!!

Yesterday evening was eventful to say the least. I rushed home from work in Vicksburg to take Raylin to the pool because we have been doing that every afternoon and to say that she LOVES it is an understatement. We went swimming and she drank lots of water. She loves to go under, but hasn't quite grasped the concept of closing her mouth before she goes under. We stay at the pool for a while and I decide to go meet some of my girlfriends to eat Mexican. They all got there at 6:00 because they were going to a movie, but since I have had numerous "girls nights out" lately, I decided to stay home and Brigg went fishing. Well after we swam, it was about 6:30 and I decided to run up to the Mexican restaurant to say Hi. When we got there, Raylin was hungry so I got a menu to order. About that time, she started throwing up continuously, which I tried to catch with my hand! I'm not sure why mother's think they can catch throw up with their hand. Before I had a child, when I saw a mother do that, I thought that is really kind of dumb. Well now that is what I do. I guess that is one of those motherly instincts that you get when you have a child. Big Mama has a great post on this! If you have time, check it out.
So anyway, Raylin is throwing up a TON of water and various other things she had eaten yesterday, but mostly water. After the vomiting episode is over (we are both soaking wet with vomit from head to toe literally), the girls start talking about dry drowning. I had heard about this several days ago, but wasn't really sure what it was. Well several of them explain about the little boy that dry drowns in his bed an hour after he has been out of the pool. Well they all assure me Raylin is fine so we leave (without eating). So as I am driving, I'm thinking about this dry drowning... Maybe I need to make sure Raylin doesn't drink so much water at the pool, maybe I can keep her from going underwater (Yeah right), or maybe we don't need to go to the pool (Yeah right again). As I turn on Old Fannin, Raylin starts choking in her car seat. She is trying to throw up and can't. We are in the far left lane of course, so I immediately jerk the car in the right lane (Motherly instinct again). I didn't even look and we hit a truck. I pull into the Back Yard Burger parking lot and jerk her out of her seat. By this time she is not even making a noise, but she is still red (Andrea asked her color so I'm throwing that in there for all you nurses). She throws up as soon as I get her out of the carseat all over the car, me, her, everything, but she is breathing. I get her out of the car and she continues to throw up water. Finally, she stops throwing up. The "nice" truck that I hit was an extremely nice man. He pulls in and sees that I am having a nervous breakdown about Raylin and asks if I need any help. I tell him we are okay. He said not to worry about his truck, it was fine, just to take care of my baby. Praise the Lord! At that minute, there is no way I could deal with cops, insurance and police reports. I'm scared to death to leave. I just couldn't put Raylin back in her carseat. What if it happened again and I couldn't get to her? So still crying uncontrollably, I call Brigg (no answer), Andrea (no answer), and my mama in Philadelphia because my mama can always make things better even if she is 90 miles away. I think now the tears are more from relief at the moment and not knowing what to do now. My mama tells me just to sit there until I think Raylin is okay or somebody can come get me. While I am talking to her, Andrea beeps in. I answer with "Where are you?" and she responds with "Where are you?" She's in Wal-mart. She obviously can tell I'm very upset so she starts driving to BYB to get me. By this time, Raylin and I have been in the BYB parking lot for 40 minutes. Andrea gets there and we get in her car and I'm praying the whole time, "please don't throw up in Ea's car and in Hank's seat." Andrea starts driving us home and realizes I'm really in no shape to go home so we go to her house (and have a delicious supper). I call my mama and she has been reading about the dry drowning on the internet (No more questions where I get that from). She read something that said if a baby is having problems with choking after swimming, that they should be checked out. So I call the afterhours clinic and they are closed of course. Andrea says she will check her out. She gets out her stethoscope and listens to her lungs and says she thinks she is okay so we decide not to go to the ER. I finally get Brigg and tell him the whole story. After he realizes we are okay, he has the nerve to ask about the car. "WHAT??? I HAVEN'T EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT THE CAR AGAIN!!! DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? RAYLIN WAS CHOKING!!!" So he decides quickly that the conversation needs to go back to me and Raylin. I really have a smart hubby that catches on quick! :) He comes to get us and we go get the car. I tell him he better not even look at it until we get home so he doesn't. He jumps right in and follows us home. I am scared to let Raylin sleep in her bed so I put her in the bed with us. That doesn't work out very long. She thinks it is playtime so I go and put her in her bed. I do not sleep at all. I have to go check on her every 30 minutes. I will continue to watch her until about 8:00 tonight, because that is how long (the internet says) dry drowning can happen after swimming. But I think she is okay.
We may never go swimming again and I don't think I'm being overprotective.
By the way, the car is fine for those of you who will probably be too scared to ask. Just a little scratch is all I could see and of course Brigg hasn't mentioned it again.