Friday, February 09, 2007

Pregnant gambler hits bonus round

32 year old Nyree Thompson was 8 months pregnant and feeling a little antsy. Maybe she was worried about working out the details of her upcoming maternity leave, or daddy hadn't yet painted and finished the nursery like he'd promised. So Nyree did what lots of pregnant women looking to relax might do--she headed down to the comforting, smoke-filled embrace of the casino.

And proceeded, after an unknown amount of time at the slot machines, to give birth.

According to this story, Nyree delivered at 9:40 am. I'd like to think she's an early riser and had just arrived at the casino, but I couldn't find any articles that said exactly how long she'd been at it before the miracle of birth occurred. The birth was a first for the casino:

Steve Callender, the vice president of operations at Resorts Atlantic City, where the event took place, said that to his knowledge, this was the first casino floor birth in the establishment's history. He told an Atlantic City reporter that "We've had people (cripes! people, as in more than one?!) die here, but we've never had people born here." Callender has been on staff since the casino opened in 1978.

She named the baby Qualeem--I think that's the name of the good luck charm she was rubbing against the machine while repeatedly chanting "mama needs a new pair of shoes" at the time she went into labor.

3 comments:

Dino said...

glad to hear she will be one of those responsible parents!

Joe said...

I'm sure once Qualeem is old enough, Nyree will thoughtfully turn the space heater up a few degrees, lock the closet he's confined in to make sure no one gets in and hurts him, and return to gamble it up.

Coaster Punchman said...

That poor child.