TERRIFYING
Brodie Donegan, 43, almost lost two of her babies…
Waving goodbye to my fiancé Nick, now 41, I stepped outside and shut the door.
It was Christmas Day 2009 and I was going for a stroll before we set off on a drive from our home in Sydney to Newcastle, Australia.
We were going for Christmas lunch at my uncle’s house.
Iwas 32 weeks pregnant at the time and I thought a quick walk would prevent my legs from seizing up on the journey.
Nick was putting up a trampoline that our daughter Ashlee, then two, got from Santa.
It was a beautiful Australian Christmas morning and I felt full of excitement for the year to come.
You’ll be with us for the next one, I thought to myself, rubbing my kicking bump.
Nick and I couldn’t wait to grow our family – we’d always wanted a house full of kids.
With just a month until the due date of my baby girl, we were prepped, ready and excited.
Looking up to see my driveway, I wasn’t far now after my 30-minute walk.
But suddenly I heard the screeching of tyres.
Then, everything went black. Fuzzy headed and disorientated, I finally opened my eyes.
Blinking hard, I focused on the blurry thing in front of me. A van.
It was rammed up against my stomach.
Slowly looking around me, I realised that I was pinned by my waist to the tree that was behind me.
I didn’t understand.
‘I’m sorry,’ a bleary-eyed woman spoke. ‘I’m sorry.’
Watching as the panicked faces of my neighbours ran towards me, I started to feel the pain radiate through my body.
I let out a weak groan.
People held my limp hand and tried to keep me calm.
Then, I spotted Nick sprinting towards me.
‘Don’t move her!’ he screamed.
‘She’s pregnant!’
Looking down at my baby bump,
I felt delirious.
‘My baby?’ I whispered.
I had been hit by a van which had me upright, trapped against a tree by a neighbour’s house.
In and out of consciousness, it took me two-and-a-half hours to be safely removed from the tangled branches and the wreckage. Then, I was airlifted to hospital.
Families all around the world were celebrating the magic of Christmas morning, Iwas fearing for mine and my unborn baby’s life. ‘We need to get you an X-ray,’ doctors told me. ‘What about my baby?’ I sobbed, clinging onto Nick.
At first, they found a heartbeat and I breathed a sigh of relief.
But after checking again, just a few hours later, doctors couldn’t hear anything.
‘Can you feel contractions?’ the midwife asked.
Shaking my head, I started to really panic.
‘We’re going to giv
