Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com Love Balloon
Alandria Worthy wanted a natural birth for her daughter Nandi, but she didn’t expect that wish to be granted at a McDonald’s in southwest Atlanta.
After three restaurant employees leaped to Worthy’s aid during her emergency delivery last week, she couldn’t have known how much they would celebrate her baby’s safe, healthy arrival.
A woman giving birth in the bathroom, screaming from labor pains, might be the worst nightmare for some business owners, but franchise operator Steve Akinboro and his crew have embraced the surprise baby they nicknamed “Lil’ Nugget.”
“Now we’re a family,” Akinboro said Wednesday at a baby shower in the rear of the dining room at his McDonald’s franchise, beaming alongside his own family.
Worthy and Deandre Phillips, along with their daughter Nandi and dog Taz, posed for photos and answered questions about the ordeal surrounded by balloons, smiles and plenty of chicken nuggets.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Worthy went into labor exactly a week earlier, while she and Phillips were on their way to Grady Memorial Hospital. She told him she needed to stop to use the bathroom, so they pulled into the restaurant on Fulton Industrial Boulevard and Worthy dashed inside.
In the bathroom, Worthy’s water broke and she realized her baby was not going to wait for the hospital. She began to scream for help and three workers, all of them mothers, answered the call.
Tunisia Woodward and Keisha Blue-Murray helped Worthy in the bathroom, while Sha’querria Kaigler called 911 and went to the parking lot to find Phillips.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Once Phillips was inside helping deliver the baby, Kaigler stayed on the phone with a 911 dispatcher and relayed instructions to him. By the time an ambulance arrived, Worthy had delivered their daughter safely into Phillips’ hands.
The harrowing ordeal, during which Worthy was in enough pain that she bit Woodward on the arm, seemed like a distant memory during Wednesday’s joyful celebration.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Woodward, Blue-Murray and Kaigler were thrilled to meet the baby girl they’d helped bring into the world, and Woodward apparently had no hard feelings toward Worthy after being bitten.
Immediately after the baby was born, Akinboro gave each of the three women $250 gift cards for going above and beyond their duties. Woodward turned around and gifted her bonus to Worthy and Phillips.
On Tuesday, Akinboro said he was replacing Woodward’s $250 bonus and presented a second check to Worthy and Phillips for an additional $500. The McDonald’s operator and crew also gave the couple a year’s supply of diapers, along with plenty of wipes, clothes and other baby essentials.
Though no one chooses to have their baby in a McDonald’s bathroom, the support is welcome for Phillips and Worthy, who moved to metro Atlanta from Ohio just a week before their daughter was born.
Both parents are contract workers, Phillips explained, so they tend to move a lot and have been in their new home in Union City for only about two weeks. Phillips said the couple had family members coming into town this weekend to meet baby Nandi.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
For now, Phillips, Worthy and Taz are settling into their new lives in Atlanta and adjusting to life with Nandi. The McDonald’s location where their daughter was born is not far from their home in Union City, Worthy said, and they look forward to dropping in on their new family often.
Henri Hollis is a reporter for the breaking news team. Formerly a freelance writer and photographer working with the food and dining section, he began covering breaking news full-time in January 2021. He is a lifelong Atlantan and a graduate of Georgia Tech.
Halloween Props Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com