Witnessed a Road Traffic Collision

[MrsC883]

Last night I saw a bike crash on the motorway right infront of me. I won't go into detail but I was the first vehicle behind it and it came out of nowhere.

I am a police officer and I have seen many traumatic things but never been witness to something happen like that in front of my eyes. I immediately stopped my car and ran to the man, prompting all the traffic to stop and started CPR as that's what I'm trained to do. I went into officer mode (I was on my way to a non operational job I now work but I have been operational for over 6 years). I had some bystander shouting at me to stop because it was futile, which of course I knew but I am taught to continue until a medical professional tells me to stop.

Anyway, once all has calmed down and the services were on the scene I realised exactly what has happened and what I've done.

I need to add I'm 10 weeks pregnant with my precious ivf baby but that wasn't a factor when I saw this happen. I just knew I had to do something, I have a duty of care as I'm never really off duty. I'm concerned I've hurt my baby by not thinking. Is the adrenaline too much for it and have I caused issues for my bean.

My husband let me know that adrenaline could cut blood supply to placenta but I don't quite have placenta yet (I'm 9+5) and I'm using hormones due to the IVF. So I'm hoping that it's okay.

I just know I would want someone to do the same for my baby if something happened and I couldn't not help someone in need.

Has anyone had experience with trauma in early pregnancy and it been okay. I really hope not but I want to know things can be okay x

I honestly don't think this would've caused any damage.
So honourable of you to step in and help ❤️

Your husband sounds like an asshole.

A lot of people don’t realise they are pregnant when they are ten weeks. And even of they do they still are carrying on as before. I was a reception teacher when I was pregnant. Lifting up four year olds and tidying up tricycles. Women are working as nurses, in warehouses and supermarkets. They are playing sports.

You don’t have to sacrifice your very existence because you are pregnant.

I was there too if it was m60 (para) you did your absolute best and you 100% won’t have done any harm to your baby. Sending you love

That sounds like a difficult situation. I’m sure your baby will be okay. I fell of a bridge walking the dog when I was about six months pregnant and ended up upside down in a brook. There wasn’t another soul around and I had to climb back up and drive home, shaking like a leaf. Then I was alone for the rest of the evening while my partner was at work. Everything was fine for me. Not quite the same as your experience, but babies and pregnant women are quite robust.

Well done you - fantastic service. You wouldn't have done your baby any harm, very much well protected. I had my 25lb 15 month old baby sitting on me/hanging off me and I had to carry him right up until my waters broke on top of having an older child to look after. My baby was born safely on Monday evening. You have done a wonderful job despite how traumatic it may have been for you. Try to relax now, let the adrenaline settle and take care of yourself. The trauma will live in your brain but your body will protect your baby. You should be immensely proud of yourself and the service you provide. You are one of the many reasons our streets are kept safe.

With respect I'd say my husband was also just worried because he completely understood why I did what I did and the type of person I am and always have been. I don't hold any ill thought to my husband, he stated a fact. He has seen me fight so hard to have this baby as I was not an easy ride. I think it was more of him making me aware. It wasn't said in a nasty way either x

@MrsC883 @Mukto thanks to you both for your care and for doing the job you do.

What a small world this Internet is. Thank you for saying that and thank you for doing the job you do. We see these things at work all the time but when it's outside, it's just different ❤️

Just to reassure you @MrsC883I was driving and had a collision with another vehicle, at a similar gestation to you.

It wasn’t a major one but I certainly had that adrenaline and shaking afterwards. DS was fine 😌

fertility rates dont go down in war zones or during natural disasters, - adrenaline doesn't affect babies

OP those who work in emergency services etc continue to work on the front line far into their pregnancies and do still experience adrenaline rushes etc. Please don’t worry. Sorry you witnessed something so awful.

I had a car accident myself at 16 weeks pregnant and my 12 year old is sitting across from me healthy and well.

don’t worry OP and well done for your actions and trying for their family 🩷

That’s good, that he’s not an asshole!

It was the way you said ‘he let me know that…’ Especially as he wasn’t even right.

Am glad your DH is not an asshole but honestly unless he is a midwife or obstetrician, his opinion on adrenaline and placentas is not useful.

Going forward with your precious baby, there will be loads of times when the best thing either of you can say to each is 'it will be absolutely fine, you were brilliant'.

Your husband might not be an asshole but it was really shitty of him to say that to you. I don't think there is any evidence for his comment and he shouldn't have added extra anxiety to the situation.
I had a bad car accident on the motorway at 16 weeks and had no negative effects. In fact a and e were very nonplussed about the situation concerning my pregnancy. They checked me over for physical injuries but nothing for the pregnancy. I was told to keep an eye of for bleeding and for movements, that hadn't started, changing. I saw my midwife for my 16 week appointment a few days later and sensing my anxiety she checked the heartbeat with Doppler at the start of the appointment such relief when I heard it!

I would have done the same in that situation and kept going for as long as I physically could have done or a medical professional told me to stop. I did a first aid course when I was 8 weeks pregnant and the only thing on the course I couldn't do was being the patient in the choking exercise. Slightly different situations but when I was about 10 weeks I was at the garden centre and saw an elderly couple struggling to get some heavy bags of compost into the boot of their car. I went over and moved the remaining bags for them. It was only when I was walking back to my car that I considered whether it was a good idea or not. On balance the weight of the compost was within the weight I could comfortably move so it was fine. The body is remarkably resilient even in pregnancy, I had two losses last year and this pregnancy I went through a stressful redundancy at the start and this is the pregnancy that decided to stick! I'm not one to think of myself before doing something but your body lets you know when you are doing more than you should. I'm now 32 weeks and have to moderate what I do a little. Most of my day I carry on as normal but not sure i would be able to help the elderly couple now unassisted!

I was in an accident on the motorway about 13 weeks, minor and no injuries but a big shock. All was fine, no impact on pregnancy or baby. You were a super hero today, not many people who could do what you did.

I was in a bad RTA at 7/8 weeks pregnant. I didn't know i was pregnant at the time. I was knocked off a motorbike on a motorway. My cousin, who is a doctor, advised that babies are very cushioned at that stage of pregnancy. I hope everything is OK but get an early scan if you need reassurance and try to relax now as much as you can. 😊 Thank you for your kindness.

Isn’t it just! Honestly I’d be happy to chat f2f or by messaging on here. I was part of the critical care team who attended. Do you work for GMP? If so you should ask for a debrief with your team/ make sure that they know you were there by accident and attended as off duty personnel first on scene. You are entitled to have counselling if you need it. I know it’s your job but this is a difficult situation because pregnancy hormones and the trauma of this.

I can honestly say without breaking any confidentiality that you did an absolutely brilliant job of not only starting cpr and stopping traffic but you handed over everything amazingly and if you need time off work (even you are non operational atm) that would 1000 % be a reasonable request. Even if you feel it’s ott, it’s not.

This msg shows how amazing our public services are . For a stranger on the internet to support their fellow service worker , it shows how much compassion most have and I don’t think any of the public services get enough respect or acknowledgement for what they endure every day.

Even if it’s just until your dating scan/ scan at 12 weeks, it might be enough time for you to access work support and have a little bit of space just to come to terms with what happened. As you said, it’s one thing to experience this kind of thing at work and quite another to be the first person on scene (even as an off duty police officer). I would ask my gp for a note and have it say ‘pregnancy related stress’ only because if it is pregnancy related it doesn’t reflect in your absences and frankly Friday night was horrendous and I can’t imagine how stressful that must have been being 1st on scene by accident. feel free to message if you want
(or ignore completely if you want that to that’s ok!!) xx congratulations on your pregnancy. If you take away one thing I hope it is that as dr (critical care paramedic helicopter / ambient service- made more sense to say para earlier in case it wasn’t the same case) I can 99% guarantee you won’t have caused any damage or injury to your much longer for baby. If it makes you feel better you could call your clinic and ask for a reassurance scan but I don’t think anything bad will have happened and you should be so proud of what you did last night xx

Thank you. 🙂 I will 100% always support my fellow police: ambo/ firefighters. In this case op was an absolute boss and is the reason that the casualty didn’t receive any further Injuries and sometimes it’s really helpful for someone who understands the ‘always being on duty thing’ to say you did an amazing job but it’s also a 1000% reasonable to say ‘I need to take some time off now to have little pause and concentrate on my mental health and my baby’ 😊

Thank you for this, this message has meant the world to me 🥹 and now I've had a couple of days, my anxiety over my baby has gone down significantly. Keep fighting the good fight and being amazing!

A car hit mine when I was 4 months pg and wrote it off, although I was unharmed
DS is well over 6ft at age 16 and pretty bombproof now.
I am sure you will be fine Op and thank you for your service

Your husband has a problem with your job or with you doing something he couldn’t, that’s a red flag 🚩

I had a really traumatic experience at work during one of my pregnancies (10/40) which I can honestly describe as the worst event of my life. My baby was and is absolutely fine. Though this event must have been so awful to witness, I think there is no meaningful added risk to your pregnancy.

I'm sorry that you had to witness something so terrible. Our own actions can sometimes feel so upsetting, sad and pointless when the outcome is still death for the patient - but it's not pointless. The person you helped will have loved ones and it can make an immeasurable difference to their wellbeing to know that someone was there with their loved one, someone who cared enough to try to help, and that everything that could be done was done. So you have potentially had a really meaningful impact. I really mean it, I've seen it first hand many times even in the worst tragedies what a difference the perception of care can make. Take care and best wishes for your pregnancy.