What a delivery: Owasso parents have baby in convenience store parking lot amid wintry weather

Landon Manuel, a data analyst, delivered the couple’s baby with direction from a 911 dispatcher while under the lights of a QuikTrip parking lot. The hectic moment was even scarier because the umbilical cord was wrapped around their son’s neck.

Twelve hours later, mom and baby were healthy at Saint Francis Hospital after living a dramatic scene typically reserved for Hollywood scripts.

When the couple fell asleep in their Owasso home just hours earlier, they were counting the days to the Jan. 29 due date. Little did they know an 80-minute experience — from Robyn’s water breaking to Rowan Lucas Manuel’s birth — was about to unfold.

“I messaged my mom at 1:44 (a.m.) and told her that I was pretty sure my water just broke,” Robyn Manuel said from her hospital bed on Monday afternoon. “My contractions were still at an appropriate time.”

When Robyn had her now 4-year-old daughter, Raelynne, it was a lengthy procedure that included a birth eight hours after induction. So while it was important to get to the hospital, time seemed to be on their side.

The weather immediately changed their plans. Freezing rain enveloped the region, and when their car was loaded for the trip to the hospital, the icy driveway proved too much. They moved everything loaded in the vehicle — including a drowsy Raelynne — into their Jeep Compass, which has four-wheel drive capability.

“There was a complete sheet of ice on the driveway,” Landon said. “We swapped everything. The roads were really bad coming out of Owasso. Once we got on the highway, there was a bunch of sand on the road, but the bridges and overpasses were completely frozen. There was a bunch of hidden ice spots that you couldn’t see. We were driving careful, about 25 and 30 miles per hour going there.”

Landon said Robyn was…