Mother wakes up to a crying baby and a lifechanging amount of money

By Kate Northrop

CHICAGO, Ill. — An Illinois woman woke up to the sound of her crying baby in the middle of the night but found it rather difficult to fall back asleep once she also found out she won a $1.4 million Lucky Day Lotto jackpot.

Every parent knows that tending to a crying infant in the middle of the night is not easy, but what if you woke up to a million dollars too?

This is what happened to one Illinois stay-at-home mom, nicknamed "Lucky Mom," who found out she had won a $1.4 million Lucky Day Lotto jackpot right after helping her baby fall back asleep.

"My baby woke up crying, and after tucking them back into bed, I had trouble falling back asleep," the mother told the Illinois Lottery. "So to pass the time, I opened the lottery app on my phone, and I couldn't believe it when it showed that I had just won $1.4 million! Absolutely wackadoodle."

"Lucky Mom" — her actual name withheld for privacy reason — matched all five numbers in the Wed., March 6 evening Lucky Day Lotto drawing to hit the $1.4 million jackpot. She took inspiration from her children's birthdays to pick the winning numbers, which were 6, 8, 16, 17, and 20, and bought her ticket online.

"I've played Lucky Day Lotto here and there, and when I do, I use my kids' birthdays as my lucky numbers," she explained. "I have the best job in the world: I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I already feel very lucky and blessed for where I'm at in life — but today, the word 'lucky' took on a whole new meaning."

"After I won, I asked my husband — 'Do you want to know which kid's birthday helped us win the jackpot?'," the winner laughed.

"Lucky Mom" used to work but left her job to become a stay-at-home mother and take care of her children, an Illinois Lottery spokesperson explained to Lottery Post. The winnings will greatly help to support their family and pay off outstanding bills and expenses.

Lucky Day Lotto is an in-state game specific to Illinois featuring a progressive jackpot that starts at $100,000 and increases by $50,000 each time a drawing concludes without a winner.

In just this month alone, nearly 550,000 winning Lucky Day Lotto tickets have been sold, amounting to more than $3 million in total prizes for Illinois players, according to the Lottery.

The Lucky Day Lotto jackpot currently stands at $500,000 for the next evening drawing on Thurs., March 14. Drawings take place twice a day at 12:40 pm CT and 9:22 pm CT. Tickets cost $1 each.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)Photo caption.