It was an emotional day for Leslie Green on Sunday when she found an abandoned baby on her neighbor’s front porch. If not for her dog, Leslie fears, the baby would have been just left there unnoticed.
“He was beautiful,” Leslie said, wiping away tears. “The baby was beautiful.”
Just after 4.00 am Leslie let her dogs outside when one of them, Ruby Mae, ran to their neighbor’s porch and stood there, waiting for her to follow.
Image provided through Google Street view
When Leslie approached the porch, she found a bundle lying on the lawn chair. It was moving and soon to her utter disbelief she could see tiny hands.
“His little arms were moving,” she said.
“I didn’t even think twice about picking him up and loving him like he was mine.”
It was a baby boy who had been wrapped in a towel and left on the chair of her neighbor’s 1200 block home.
Port Huron police came shortly after and transferred the baby to Port Huron Hospital where his condition is said to be stable.
Lt. Scott Pike said that they were now looking for information about the baby’s parents and if anyone had some news they could contact the Port Huron police CAPTURE line at (810) 987-6688.
He added that if someone was not able to take care of a baby, there were safe and legal options than abandoning a newborn in such a way.
Ginger VanNuck, a spokeswoman for Port Huron Hospital, said Michigan’s Safe Delivery of Newborns law allows people to anonymously surrender an infant who is less than 72 hours old.
“It allows a parent to surrender an infant to an employee on duty at a hospital, police station or fire department or to call 9-1-1,” VanNuck said, in an email. “In these situations, law enforcement and health care providers work collaboratively to ensure the safety and well-being of the infant and of the surrendering parent.”
A few babies have already been surrendered to the hospital under this law in the past five years.
Leslie believes that the baby was left on her neighbor’s porch as it was the only home with porch lights on. Her neighbors though are not in town.
She recalled that the infant had a head full of hair.
“I can’t wrap my head around what would’ve happened if I didn’t find him,” she said.
It is indeed thanks to her dogs and Leslie that the infant was found at the right time.
SOURCE: The Times Herald
