In the heart of the business district in South Richmond, Virginia, there is a KFC-Taco Bell hybrid restaurant that serves a steady stream of hungry customers.
You can dine in or take out. The only option not on the menu is delivery — usually.
Breonni Jackson is a regular there.
As an in-home nurse, Jackson often stops by to pick up a quick lunch on the go.
Such was the case on April 30.
“My patient asked if I would run and get her something to eat. She wanted Taco Bell,” said Jackson.
But right after she placed the order, stomach cramps struck.
Jackson ran to the restroom, came out, but almost immediately had to go back.
“The pain hit me once again,” said Jackson. “I went back in the bathroom and this time when I sat down there was no standing back up.”
Things got scary in the restroom stall.
“I look down and that’s when I realized I was still bleeding,” said Jackson.
She called her husband in a panic.
“She’s crying, she’s breathing heavy, so immediately I’m like, babe what’s wrong?” Jamarz Jackson, who works at VCU Medical Center, said. “And she’s like, how fast can you get to me? So I’m like, oh God.”
Jackson put his phone on speaker and raced out of the hospital. But something stopped him dead in his tracks.
“I’m running past the Panera Bread and then I hear her let out this gut-wrenching scream,” he said.
Then, a terrifying moment of silence.
“I’m still panicking. I’m like, babe, say something, and then she’s like oh my God, oh my God,” said Jackson. “I’m like what’s wrong, what happened? And she was like I just had a baby. And I was like, you did what?!”
A complete shock, because neither father nor mother knew Breonni was pregnant.
“I was like, OK, no, there’s no way,” Breonni Jackson said. “I picked her up, I wrapped her in my shirt; she hadn’t let out a cry or anything yet.”
That is when motherly instinct kicked in.
“I realized the umbilical cord was still wrapped around her throat,” said Jackson. “I unwrapped the umbilical cord, and as I unwrapped the last one she took a deep breath and he heard her holler for the first time.”
Jamarz, still on the phone, had just one question.
“Boy or girl? I was like it’s a girl,” said Breonni Jackson. “[He said] Hang up and call 911! And next thing I know I was hearing a dial tone, haha.”
Down the hall, the restaurant’s employees had no clue what was going on in the bathroom.
“They didn’t realize what was going on until the ambulance got there and asked them for the key in order to unlock the door,” said Breonni Jackson.
Mother and child were rushed to the hospital. Proud papa was waiting when they arrived.
“To see him as soon as they opened the back doors was definitely everything that I needed at that moment,” Breonni Jackson said.
“I’m still in shock,” Jamarz Jackson added. “But to be honest it still couldn’t have come at a better time.”
The couple had been in mourning for the previous year.
Last June, the Jacksons’ son Jy’Aire was killed in a crash. He was just 9 months old.
Breonni was behind the wheel when her car struck a pickup truck and camper that pulled off onto the shoulder.
“It was a matter of a nightmare, as well as, this just can’t be something that’s real,” said Breonni Jackson. “To know that I lost my son doing something that I do on a daily basis was the worst thing ever."
Police initially charged her with two misdemeanors. Ultimately, one was dismissed, and she would receive a suspended sentence and a fine for driving with bad brakes.
The couple said the loss of their son tested their faith.
“Questioning God, you know like, why?” said Jamarz Jackson
Faith that was restored when little Ayanna was born.
“She’s definitely a dream come true,” said Breonni Jackson. “To lose one and truly gain another one is definitely the best gift that we could ever ask for.”
A bundle of joy with an arrival that no one saw coming.
“But lo and behold, a miracle,” said Jamarz Jackson. “Out of nowhere … in a Taco Bell restroom.”
Breonni was about 34½ weeks pregnant when she gave birth.
The family said the doctors told them she may have experienced what is known as a cryptic pregnancy, a rare condition in which expectant mothers do not feel or notice any signs or symptoms until late in the pregnancy, or, like in this case, when they suddenly go into labor.
As for the Taco Bell, Breonni says she's grateful to the employees, who watched her car for her while she was in the hospital.
"They're definitely a major support, every time I go in they ask about [Ayanna], they ask about me and my husband as well," she said. "They’ve really become a set of friends."
This story was originally published by Mike Bergazzi and Jon Burkett at Scripps News Richmond.
