ATLANTA (AP) — Yes, they’ve nicknamed the baby “Nugget” after a woman delivered a girl at an Atlanta McDonald’s.
Alandria Worthy tells WXIA-TV that her labor was intensifying and her fiancé was driving her to the hospital Wednesday morning when they stopped so she could use the bathroom at the fast food restaurant.
“I went into the bathroom and my water broke immediately,” Worthy said.
Worthy said she started screaming. Restaurant manager Tunisia Woodward went to see what was happening.
“I open this door, didn’t see anyone, but I saw feet (under the door),” Woodward said. “I opened, and she was on this toilet lying back, screaming. Then I knew to tell my crew, ‘We’re having a baby today.’”
Woodward and two workers began to help. The fiancé, Deandre Phillips, came in to check what was taking so long, only to find Worthy giving birth.
“I was trying to calm her down because she was frantic,” Phillips said. “I was like, ‘Just breathe.’ I got her on the floor, and I took off my clothes. The ladies at McDonald’s were at her front side, holding her hands, I had her feet propped up on my knees. We told her to push three pushes. She was a fighter.”
Less than fifteen minutes later, Nandi Ariyah Moremi Phillips was born.
“Oh, my God, it’s still crazy that it happened,” Worthy said.
“Yes, she popped out onto my hand,” Phillips said.
The parents tell the TV station “divine intervention” brought them to McDonald’s where three women could help.
“We all are mothers and so we put our heads together and all we needed daddy to do was catch the baby. And he did,” Woodward said of herself and her coworkers, Sha’querria Kaigler and Keisha Blue-Murray.
Although the baby’s birth certificate reads “Nandi Ariyah Moremi Phillips,” the McDonald’s crew gave the baby girl another name.
“I said, we’re going to name her Little Nugget. That’s her nickname: McDonald’s Little Nugget,” Woodward said.
That nickname may stick.
“She’s definitely a nugget,” Phillips agreed. “My parents loved the name, too. We were like, OK, it fits her. My little nugget.”
Steve Akinboro, who owns the franchise, awarded the employees $250 gift cards. Woodward said she’ll spend all the money on Nandi.