Tri-State Area Couple’s Baby Arrives in a Wawa Parking Lot

According to ABC 6 Action News, a routine traffic stop in New Jersey turned into something straight out of a TV drama when a police officer found himself delivering a baby in the parking lot of a Wawa.

Get our free mobile app

The expecting parents were racing to the hospital when it became painfully obvious they weren't going to make it. Instead of reaching the delivery room, they pulled into a Wawa parking lot, where Officer Dominic Hodson suddenly found himself with a job description that definitely wasn't covered in the police academy.

Could you imagine the chaos?

A woman is screaming in pain, dad is probably panicking, flashing police lights are bouncing off every parked car, and all the night creatures that hang out in the Wawa parking lot like it's their own personal nightclub are standing around wondering what in the world is going on. Then, to top it all off, a baby enters the picture.

Officer Hodson admitted he'd never delivered a baby before and doesn't even have children of his own, so this was about as "learn as you go" as it gets. He later joked that one thing he wasn't prepared for was just how slippery a newborn is. That's probably one of those details they leave out until you're suddenly holding an actual human being who's been alive for about 10 seconds.

Thankfully, everything worked out. Mom, baby, and everyone involved came through the experience safely, and what started as a frantic trip to the hospital became a story that family will probably be telling for the rest of that child's life.

As for me, this is just another reminder that absolutely anything can happen in a Wawa parking lot. You might stop in for a coffee and a breakfast sandwich, and the next thing you know there's a police officer delivering a baby while an audience of late-night snack seekers watches it all unfold. Only in New Jersey.