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Although they ultimately decided against the middle name “La Quinta,” Helena Valley couple Travis and Danita Light wanted their baby girl’s name to reflect the unusual place she was born Monday night.

So they went with the middle name “River,” Travis said, “partly because that La Quinta is right on the Missouri River.”

The Helena-area couple had planned to have their baby at Gentle Beginnings Family Birth Center in Great Falls and use Benefis Health System as a backstop, because St. Peter’s Health does not allow vaginal birth after Caesarean section, or “VBAC.” Although Danita was not due until March 29, they loaded up their two young daughters and checked into the La Quinta Inn and Suites in Great Falls Monday evening after their midwife told them their baby was likely coming the next day.

Following a leisurely dinner, Travis said, the family returned to the hotel and tucked in 4-year-old Ellavie and 5-year-old Serena around 8:30 that night. He said Danita’s water broke at 8:51, her midwife and two assistants arrived a short time later, “and before 10 o’clock we had the baby in the hotel room.”

At 7 pounds and 19-inches-long, Cyndra River Light was born at 9:54 p.m. Monday.