Mich. Couple Opens Up After Surprising Birth in Brewery Parking Lot, and They Share Sweet Story Behind Newborn's Name

Mar. 15, 2025

A Michigan couple is opening up after their newborn son entered the world at a surprising location:a brewery parking lot.

“There’s no medical doctors, anybody around, to tell you what to do,” dad Aaron Baker, 38, tells PEOPLE. “You can’t prepare for this at all.”

And it certainly wasn’t what the parents of two daughters, 3-and-a-half and 2 years old, were expecting when their youngest arrived.

“Everything was neck and neck with our girls, so we were certain we were having our third girl and that [she] was going to be a week late, just like them, too,” Kyle says.

Aaron and Kyle Baker (back, from left) with their newborn son and two daughters.Courtesy of Kyle and Aaron Baker

Courtesy of Kyle and Aaron Baker

Still, the two thought they would be sent home.

About five minutes into their drive to the hospital, with their bag in tow, Aaron says that his wife’s pain and contractions continued to get worse.

“I was excited, because I’m like, ‘Good, we’re not getting sent home for sure. I can tell,’ " he adds. “Then we got about halfway there and I’m like, ‘Okay.’ I was the last person who really wants to call an ambulance or 911. I’m like, ‘You’re going to make it to the hospital.’ "

Forrest Wells Baker.Courtesy of Kyle and Aaron Baker

That changed — quickly.

Aaron describes how his wife started giving birth in their car. On the phone with 911, he told first responders to meet them at One Well Brewery in Kalamazoo, about a 20-minute drive from their home in Vicksburg.

“About a minute later we pulled in,” Aaron says. “I mean, I literally put the car in park … the car was still running.”

He then ran around their Kia Carnival minivan, opened the door and their son’s head “came out.”

Aaron says that he then placed their newborn on his wife’s chest — and the boy began to cry.

“That was the biggest breath of fresh air you could ask for,” Aaron says.

“I was still in the moment of kind of like, okay, okay, cool,” Aaron says. “What do we do next?”

Deciding on Forrest’s name wasn’t too difficult for the couple, Kyle says: “I’ve known Forrests and they’ve all been really nice people.'

Yet the pair weren’t really set on a middle name until Kyle’s sister had an idea — Wells.

“What a cool thing to relate to the brewery where he was born,” Aaron says.

The Bakers say that Forrest’s name already had a surprising connection to the brewery.

Aaron and Kyle Baker with their newborn son Forrest Wells.Courtesy of Kyle and Aaron Baker

“When you walk in, they have a section in the bar area that’s called ‘the cabin side,’ and then they have the side and it makes sense now,” Aaron says. “You see trees and everything painted all over. It’s called ‘the forest side.’ " (Kyle quips, “We didn’t know that.")

The pair, who met while substitute teaching at Eastside Elementary in Constantine, can’t believe how their story has spread and “reached more people than we’ll ever know,” Aaron says.

But he says he’s happy it’s bringing people joy: “Maybe this’ll just bring some smiles.”

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When asked what they think Forrest will make of his birth story as he grows older, Aaron says he’s ultimately hoping to keep “a good relationship with One Well going.”

“Down the road, especially once he gets 21, he can walk into that brewery and tell his story,” Aaron says. “‘Actually, this [is] where I was born.’ "

source: people.com