Clean up on Beaver Road....
A Missouri couple’s late-night rush to the hospital took an unexpected detour last month, ending with a special delivery in the parking lot of a popular travel center and a brand-new nickname for their baby girl: "Little Buc-ee."
Jena and Nathan Birdsong of Marshfield, Mo., were expecting their third child, but they didn't expect her to arrive quite so famously. According to reports from WWMT and TODAY, the situation escalated quickly in the early morning hours of November 14.
The Birdsongs had initially planned a standard trip to the hospital when Jena began feeling contractions around 11:30 p.m. Thinking they had time, they waited for Nathan’s parents to arrive to watch their other children. However, as they began the 45-minute drive to the hospital, Jena’s water broke, and the couple realized they weren't going to make it.
"Things got really painful, really quickly," Jena told TODAY.com.
With time running out, Nathan made a split-second decision. "We're going to end up at Buc-ee's. That's the next exit here," he told the 911 operator as he pulled into the brightly lit parking lot of the Springfield Buc-ee's on Beaver Road.
At 3:15 a.m., under the glow of the beaver logo, the couple prepared for an unassisted birth. Nathan, guided over the phone by a representative from Mercy Birthplace - Springfield, rushed to his wife's side.
"As soon as he opened my door, she was coming out," Jena recalled.
Moments later, at 3:16 a.m., Elaina Grace Birdsong entered the world weighing 7 pounds, 1 ounce. Police officers from the Strafford Police Department arrived just one minute later to find the healthy baby girl already resting in her mother’s arms.
While her legal name is Elaina, the unique location of her birth has earned her a nickname that is likely to stick forever. "Over the holidays, everyone kept saying, 'Here's Little Buc-ee,'" Jena said. Family members have fully embraced the story, with one even gifting the newborn a "Little Buc-ee" Christmas ornament.
The Birdsongs noted that while they aren't frequent shoppers at the massive travel center, the location will now hold a permanent place in their family history—literally. Elaina’s birth certificate will officially list her place of birth as Buc-ee's, located appropriately on Beaver Road.
There's just no way to keep Buc-ees out of the news, is there?