Couple gives birth in Chick-fil-A bathroom; "little nugget" gets a job guarantee and free food for life
Chich-fil-A has guaranteed a job to a baby girl who was born in a bathroom of one of its outlets. What's more? She will have the license to eat for free at the store for the rest of her life.
Robert Griffin and his wife Falon were on their way to the university hospital when they stopped at a Chick-fil-A in San Antonio on Tuesday night to drop off their two daughters with a family friend. They met in the parking lot of the Stone Ridge Chick-fil-A on U.S. 281 and Evans Road when Falon started having severe contractions.
She was in desperate need of a restroom and so the couple banged on the door of the restaurant, although it had already closed up at 10 pm. Fortunately, employees were still cleaning up inside and so let the mother in immediately.
But Falon began to scream as soon as she reached the bathroom in a dramatic turn of events.
"I'm about to dial 911, I open the door and she's just screaming," said Brenda Enriquez, Chick-fil-A store director, according to the Star-Telegram.
At the time, Robert was outside bidding his children goodbye when Enriquez immediately ran up to him and alerted him about the situation. "I didn't know I was going to have a baby in there! I was going to the restroom," Falon said.
The father quickly responded and upon seeing his wife's situation, he realized there was no way he could take her to a hospital for the delivery of their baby. "So there we were.....my wife and I in a tiny stall in the bathroom, and I could see the top of our little girls head crowning as [Falon] was straddling the toilet. I told [Falon]: 'Sweetie, we are gonna have to do this right here, right now,'" the dad wrote on Facebook.
"After shouting to the manager to call 911 and to bring any clean towels, [Falon] and I started delivering our baby."
However, to his dismay, Robert realized that the umbilical cord was wrapped twice around the neck of the baby as soon as its shoulders came out.
"I stopped her at her shoulders because I saw what looked to be a white collar around her neck, and it was the cord that had been wrapped around her neck twice," Robert said. "Didn’t want to alert my wife, so just told her to try to relax for a minute and I was somehow able to unwrap the cord from the baby’s neck," he wrote on Facebook.
"With two more strong pushes, and using my shirt for a towel, out came Gracelyn Mae Violet Griffin. I delivered her at 10:30 (p.m.)," Griffin said. As the couple waited for an ambulance, they wrapped the baby up in towels warmed up in the restaurant kitchen. "Then, (in) a little bit less than 10 minutes, EMS was here," Enriquez recounted.
"For all the chaos, we all did amazing. Cut the chord while still in the bathroom, kept Gracie stable and mom calm, and it all worked out....not as planned, but everyone’s healthy," Robert wrote. Fascinatingly, the baby's birth certificate reads "Born in Chick-fil-A' and is undersigned by Robert Griffin, her father, as the attending physician.
"I'm in excruciating pain. He's not skilled. I don't know what's about to happen right now. I don't know if she's going to come out alive," Falon recounted. Owing to the fact that both Falon and Gracelyn were deemed high-risk for the entire duration of the pregnancy, the mother recalled having severe anxiety. "All I cared about at the end of the day was the baby was breathing, and by the time they (first responders) arrived, she was pink, thankfully for those blankets for keeping her warm," Falon said.
She remembers everything, right from banging at the restaurant door to waiting for emergency medical personnel to arrive.
"Oh my gosh, we just had a baby in Chick-fil-A. I was like, 'This really happened. How is this my life right now?'" Falon said.
The newborn has been promised by the fast-food chain that she can expect a job there as soon as she turns 14, and is entitled to free Chick-fil-A for life. The franchise has always been the Griffin family's favorite place to chow down. Baby Gracelyn, who is already being hailed as "Little Nugget", will be hosted by owners of the franchise on her first birthday party.
On Wednesday, the father recounted the remarkable delivery in a Facebook post, writing: "I think it’s pretty ironic that a proud conservative, Christian family would have a baby in a Chick-fil-A, and wrapped in a Trump 2020 T-shirt! BOOM #maga #mywifesthebest #chickfila #texas #chickfilababy."
Gracelyn Griffin is now three days old. She sleeps in her dad's arms at the University Hospital wearing a "Little Nugget" Chick-fil-A top. Interestingly, her parents had bought her the outfit three months ago, completely unaware that it would bear so much meaning in the days to come.