It's incredible.
Just hours after I wrote the earlier post about the reunification of an 18-year-old girl who had been abandoned at birth and the man who found her and saved her life, a retired police officer and his son stumbled upon a newborn baby boy abandoned in a patch of weeds in Palmetto, Fla., just miles from my hometown:
"It was very pink, like a dark pink, almost a red. Like when you go to Wal-Mart and see those pink dolls, that's what I thought I had," (Randy) Petroskey said. "I saw one foot move and that's when I called 911."What possesses a person to leave a defenseless infant in a patch of weeds and a pile of ants?? It is just incomprehensible to me!!
The naked baby was about three feet into a weeded area. His umbilical cord and placenta were still attached as he lay on his side, covered with flies and ants. The right side of his head was slightly swollen.
Petroskey immediately took off his Ohio State Polo shirt to wrap the infant. Nick stayed on the phone with Emergency Communications Center.
They were advised to wrap the baby up but make sure his face was uncovered so he could breath.
Petroskey wiped the bugs off the child's body.
They took a floor mat out of the Explorer to place the child on and went to get towels at a local restaurant to keep the boy warm until paramedics arrived.
"I just can't believe people would do this," Petroskey said. "They just didn't want it."
Palmetto Police spokesman Sgt. Scott Tyler said police were concerned about the health of the mother and questioning local businesses to see if anyone had seen a pregnant woman in the area. He said she likely gave birth in the weeds ...
If no one claims the boy, he will be placed in state custody, Tyler said.
But he marveled at the coincidence that led to the boy's discovery -- and his survival.
"It was just an act of God, a miracle, whatever you want to call it," he said.
For more on this story, check out the full Bradenton Herald story, which also provides information about Florida's aforementioned Safe Haven for Newborns law, here.
Abandoning babies ... It is unthinkable, and it simply doesn't have to happen -- anywhere.
