‘MEET OUR MIRACLE FLOOD BABIES’
TWO HEAVILY PREGNANT WOMEN WERE RESCUED FROM THE DELUGE JUST IN TIME
As the rain hammered down and the street outside became submerged by water, Felicity Jacques tried not to panic. Thirty-seven weeks pregnant, Felicity was at her mother-in-law’s place in the Brisbane suburb of Toowong with her husband, Alex, 31, and their daughter, Eliza, 2. “Water had completely surrounded the building,” she tells New Idea. “We were like, ‘Oh my God, we’re trapped.’” They’d stayed over the previous evening because it was too dangerous to drive home in the torrential downpour – but the rain showed no sign of relenting.
“Once we were flooded in, we knew it could get serious. I had Eliza at 38 weeks and by this point I was 37 weeks. So any little niggle I was like, ‘Is this it?’”
Felicity’s mother-in-law, Kathy, called the SES for help after the electricity shut off, but before the family could make it to the boat, they first had to clamber down eight flights of stairs.
“I was just so relieved and so glad to be leaving,” Felicity, 32, says.
“I didn’t think I was panicking, but obviously there would have been some underlying nervousness – seeing the water rise, how high it got and knowing we were completely surrounded.”
SES volunteers whisked the family to safety and a few hours later, Felicity went into labour. Baby Andrew was born at 4.23am the next day, weighing 3.35kg, at the Mater Mothers’ Hospital in Brisbane.
“He’s absolutely perfect,” Felicity beams. “He is definitely a little miracle.”
The whole family are besotted with baby Andrew, especially Eliza, who was thrilled by the adventure.
But, Felicity wasn’t the only heavily pregnant mum who was trapped by the treacherous floodwaters in Brisbane.