"QuikTrip baby," mom doing well after vehicle birth

Courtney Looney

Nov. 4, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Jennifer Rutledge said she is used to having babies fairly quickly.

"My youngest daughter was born seven minutes after I got to the ER," said Rutledge, 31. "It's just me."

But on Monday afternoon, Rutledge didn't even make it to the hospital. Instead, her fourth child was born in a moving vehicle, 18 days ahead of his due date.

"We were on our way to the hospital, and I was hurting," Rutledge said Tuesday in her hospital room. "I moved a certain way and it happened."

Rutledge and Travis Bippert became the parents of Travis Junior -- or T.J. --Bippert, at 3:58 p.m. Monday in Bippert's vehicle.

"I checked my cell phone right away to see the time he was born," Rutledge said.

Bippert, who was driving, pulled into a nearby QuikTrip at Harry and Webb Road to wait for an ambulance.

Bippert seemed much more shocked about the birth than Rutledge.

"Is this an experience I want to have again? No," Bippert said. "I'm just glad it wasn't raining or snowing, and we were lucky it happened in the day."

The couple, who live in Andover, said it normally takes 20 minutes to get to the hospital. But Monday, Rutledge said, they ran out of time.

"I can already tell he is going to be just like his daddy -- impatient," she said.

Rutledge said she was initially worried because T.J. didn't immediately cry after he was born.

"He was grunting, and it just didn't sound right," she said. "There was no relief factor until I got (to the hospital)."

Bippert said he called 911 about three minutes before T.J. was born. He and the operator remained on the line until an ambulance arrived at QuikTrip.

"I called, and stuff just started happening," Bippert said. "They (EMS) were probably just as shocked as we were."

Bippert also mentioned that the customers at QuikTrip were very respectful.

"No one bothered us, and everybody was pretty patient," he said.

Mike Thornbrugh, a media representative for QuikTrip, said it isn't uncommon for people to stop in their stores' parking lots after birthing a baby.

"You're always surprised to hear it, but it happens all the time at QuikTrip," Thornbrugh said. "I think people find it... a safe place where they know they can go in and ask for help if they need to."

Rutledge and T.J. were taken to Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Joseph Campus, where they were stabilized. They remained there Tuesday afternoon.

Besides a few bruises, the doctors have told the parents that their 8-pound, 7-ounce baby boy should be just fine.

"It's not something I want to do again," Rutledge said of T.J.' s birth. "But, it's whatever. I just go with the flow."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0218-39418630