Gracie Ballantine, 31, was snowed in at the worst possible time after blizzards hit the north of the country earlier this week – with her due to give birth any day.
A newborn baby made his first journey home in a tractor after a hero farmer helped tow his stranded parents through towering snow. Heavily pregnant Gracie Ballantine, 31, was snowed in at the worst possible time after blizzards hit the north of the country earlier this week.
Her waters broke at home in Aberdeenshire and the couple rushed to nearby Peterhead Maternity Unit where baby Frank was born. Desperate to get back to their home in Maud, they set off but the trio became stuck nearly half a mile from their home due to the snow.
Thankfully they were able to call their farmer neighbour, Graham Pirie, who rushed down in his tractor to tow them to safety.
Speaking to the Record, mum-of-three Gracie said: “I stayed in the hospital for one night, but because there was more snow forecast we thought we better take the chance to get home while we could.
“We tried to make it up the road and couldn’t so we had to contact Graham. He was busy feeding the sheep but he came flying around straight away and picked us up.
“We never would have made it up that road – the conditions were so bad. We really couldn’t have done it without him.”
The family made it home safely with the newest addition to their family before Gracie then put the video of Graham towing them on Facebook – and the clip quickly went viral, having now been viewed thousands of time.
“I was so surprised by the reaction”, said Gracie. “I put the video online and just thought it would be a nice way to thank Graham and his family. I didn’t realise it was going to blow up so much.
“I’m really proud to be able to highlight what the local farmers have done for us up in Aberdeenshire. I’ve seen all the work that they’ve been doing because the roads have been so bad, so thank you to all the farmers.”
Farmer Graham added: “They got to their road end, which is a house they rent from us and it’s a climb up to the house.
“It was just a case of pulling them up the track. It’s certainly the first time I’ve had to tow a newborn baby home. It was quite exciting, and nice to get them home safely.”
Gracie is now looking forward to the extreme weather clearing, at which point Frank will finally be able to meet his siblings Dandy and Sage for the first time.
She added: “We’ve got two children already who are stuck at my mum’s house because the snow’s so bad.
“It’ll be nice once everything’s back to normal and we can get on with our little lives.”
