SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Christmas morning took an unexpected turn at Deer Lake Golf Course when a baby was born in the parking lot before his parents could make it to the hospital.
The child, named Sonny Oliver Christensen, is the son of the course’s head golf professional, who helped deliver the baby just minutes after arriving at the Springfield course early Christmas Day.
Todd Christensen is the head pro for Great Life Golf in Springfield, which operates multiple courses in the area. He says his wife, Nadyne, woke him around 6 a.m. and told him it was time to go to the hospital. The couple already had a plan in place to drop off their 5-year-old daughter and their dog at the golf course with a friend before heading out.
They made it to the parking lot — but no farther.
As they pulled out to leave, Todd said Nadyne told him to turn back immediately.
“She said, ‘You need to pull back in the parking lot. I’m having this baby right now,’” he said.
Todd said when he got out of the car, he could already see the baby’s head. About 10 minutes later, Sonny was born.
“I said, ‘Well, I guess we’re having the baby right here,’” Todd said. “About 10 minutes later I had him in my arms and he was good to go.”
Emergency responders arrived shortly after the birth and transported Nadyne and the baby to a nearby hospital.
The mild weather helped make the unexpected delivery a little easier, Todd said, noting the record warmth we had in the Ozarks on Christmas Day.
The golf course was quiet at the time, since it was Christmas Day.
“Luckily, it was Christmas, so I didn’t have a bunch of the golfers out here playing golf, and no audience,” Todd said.
Nadyne said the fast delivery came as no surprise, especially with it being their third child.
“When they tell you that the third one comes faster, that’s absolutely true,” she said. “For everything that happened, it was a great experience for how everything went down.”
She said Sonny is healthy and doing well.
“He’s nice and healthy, and we’re happy to have him,” she said, adding the unusual birth will make for a memorable story one day.
“It’ll be a great story that he’ll get to tell someday,” she said.
You may be wondering why this sounds familiar. It’s the third time since November that a baby has been born in the Ozarks at a strange location. The first was Buc-ee’s on I-44, and then a few weeks later a baby was born at Bass Pro’s Wonders of Wildlife.
Check out the Buc-ee’s baby here, and the Wonders of Wildlife baby story here.