BY JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER |
jennifer.kelleher@newsday.com
October 5, 2008
Danielle Gruttadaurio was a day away from her due date and she was tired of being cooped up at home waiting. So she ventured out for a shopping trip with her mother-in-law.
But while driving to meet her Wednesday, Gruttadaurio was in a crash that sent her car airborne.
About seven hours and an emergency Caesarean section later, Gruttadaurio, 26, gave birth to a son. Despite their harrowing ordeal, mom and baby are healthy - and happy.
Gruttadaurio, of Speonk, was driving west on Sunrise Highway, near Robert Moses Causeway, about 11:45 a.m. when an 18-wheeler truck clipped the back of her car, her husband, Jason, 31, recounted from her hospital room last night. Her car then hit the guardrail, sending her about 10 feet into the air, he said.
The Gruttadaurios happened to be on the phone with each other during the crash.
"She was on hands-free with me," Jason said. "I could hear everything. I was screaming her name. When I didn't hear anything back, I knew something was wrong."