Something truly unforgettable happened last night; I ended up giving birth to my baby girl inside a Chick-fil-A bathroom.

My wife Maggie and I were on our way to the hospital for her delivery. We had arranged to hand off our two daughters to a friend who was meeting us at a nearby Chick-fil-A. It was after 10 p.m. when we arrived, and by then, Maggie was in active labor. She urgently needed to use the restroom. The restaurant was already closed, but we knocked on the glass, and thankfully when the staff saw my wife pregnant, they allowed us to use the restroom.

While I helped the kids into our friend’s car and goodbye them with kiss Maggie rushed inside. When I got in, the manager told me, your wife is screaming in the restroom. I quickly found her in a small stall, straddling the toilet. The head had already begun to emerge. I looked at Maggie and said, honey, we have to deliver the baby right here and right now.

I called out to the staff to call 911 and bring us any clean towels they had. Then we start the delivery in the tiny bathroom. When our daughter’s shoulders came out, I saw that the umbilical cord was looped around her neck two times. I did not want to scare Maggie, so I calmly asked her to relax for a moment, and I carefully managed to loosen and unwrap the cord from her around the neck.

With two more pushes, our little girl, Gracelyn Mae Violet Griffin, was born. I wrap the baby with my shirt. Since the EMT was still 15 minutes away, the Chick-fil-A staff helped by heating white towels in the kitchen and handing them to us to keep the baby warm.
While we waited, we stayed on speakerphone with the emergency team, updating them on Gracelyn’s condition. Everything turned out fine, soon Gracie was stable, Maggie was calm, and everyone was safe.
We even cut the umbilical cord right there in the bathroom. Though nothing went according to our plan, everything turned out perfectly and safe. Gracelyn’s birth certificate now proudly reads ‘Born in Chick-fil-A,’ with me listed as the attending physician.