Wichita hotel worker gets 5-star review for helping mom in labor get to the hospital

Jan. 27—Nic Yoxall is used to multitasking while working at his desk.

As the general manager of the Fairfield by Marriott Wichita Downtown, he keeps one ear tuned to what's happening at the front desk outside his office while he handles other work.

Except Jan. 17, Yoxall was laser focused on preparing for his regional manager to arrive.

"You want to have all your ducks in a row when your regional manager comes," he said.

"Sometimes when you're in the zone like that . . . you can kind of hear the (front desk) commotion . . . but you don't hear the actual conversations."

So he didn't hear when a pregnant woman came from her room to tell the front desk workers her water had just broken.

Rachel Anderson often travels — including to Wichita — for her job with EyeTech Digital Systems, which makes devices to help people who have trouble communicating.

Since her due date wasn't supposed to be until the middle of February, and since each of her previous four children didn't arrive early, Anderson said she felt safe making one last trip before sticking closer to home.

"I'm like, I'm OK, I can do this," Anderson said she thought.

Except she was sitting alone in her room when she realized the baby was coming early, ready or not.

"I just threw all my stuff in a suitcase as fast as I could."

Anderson thought about driving herself to the hospital but thought better of it and asked the front desk for help.

"They were a little shocked," she said. "It was cute."

Yoxall said the workers briefly froze before turning to him for help. He said he's not sure he even responded to his employees. He simply grabbed the keys for the hotel's shuttle, which isn't running due to the pandemic, and started heading for the hospital.

Anderson got on the phone with her mother while in route, which she said she doesn't actually recall.

"I'm answering all of her mom's questions," Yoxall said.

When her mother asked who she was with, Anderson said it was the shuttle driver.

"I said, 'Actually, I'm the general manager,' " Yoxall said.

Anderson's mom said it sounded like she was in good hands.

"Oh, that's funny," said Anderson, who didn't learn that detail till later.

Yoxall said the emergency room was just like what media accounts have described, with every seat taken, including floor space.

"There were people upon people at this ER."

Anderson was assured she wouldn't have to have the baby in the waiting room and was immediately taken to a private area with Yoxall following with her bags.

He put down the bags, handed his business card and started to leave as perplexed staff members watched.

"They're looking at me like really strange," Yoxall said.

He explained he works for a hotel and was not the father.

"They all start clapping," Yoxall said.

Some exclaimed, "5 stars!"

"That was the best part for me."

Up to that point anyway.

Yoxall was once again back at his desk a couple days later when he was called to the front desk.

Anderson was there to introduce him to her baby, Jameson.

"That was the best part — getting to meet the baby," Yoxall said.

Anderson also had a gift for him, which was Jameson's footprint on the back of the business card Yoxall had given him. It was an idea from Anderson's sister, Sarah Ramirez, who had flown in for the birth.

The staff had welcomed all three of them back to the hotel with decorations in their room, including a "Welcome first ever Fairfield baby" sign.

"It was a great experience," Anderson said. "Everyone was so accommodating, so nice. . . . They went out of their way."

She lives in the Chicago suburbs and said she really likes Wichita.

"It's just a cute little town. I love it."

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