His gut told him to go home for lunch, and it led him to baby abandoned in a dumpster — but it was DNA results that sent him spiraling
When the 30-year-old from Alberta parked his truck, a woman immediately alerted him to cries coming from the dumpster
Sometimes, the universe places people exactly where they are meant to be at the right time. Back on October 19, 2010, a 30-year-old man from Calgary, Alberta, who chose to remain anonymous, decided to return home for lunch, even though he did not need to. The moment he parked his truck, a woman came up to him, alerting him to a baby crying in the dumpster. He dove into the trash and recovered a naked baby boy with the umbilical cord still attached, reported CBC. People around him called 911, and the baby was taken to the hospital. He was unaware that his timely rescue would change his and the baby's lives forever.
Gut feeling
The same morning the baby was found in the dumpster, the man's girlfriend had complained about feeling sick. "When I looked at her, she didn't seem to be in distress. So I thought nothing of it, and I proceeded to go to work," he told CBC News. However, by 1:00 p.m., he had a strange feeling and went home. "I got a bad feeling in my gut, and I was like, 'I'm going to go home for lunch,'" he said.
The moment he got out of his car, a random girl asked him to check for a baby in the dumpster after she heard it crying. He did not have a clue that he was saving his own son from the dumpster. He didn't even know his girlfriend was pregnant. "No knowledge at this time that this is my kid whatsoever — I went running over. And I jumped in and I removed the stuff and I personally opened the bag. My first sight of my baby was covered in garbage," he told the outlet.
Shocking discovery
An hour after the baby was taken to the hospital, the mother was sent to the hospital too, and the man was taken to the police station for interrogation. A day after the incident, Staff Sgt. Leah Barber told the news outlet that the mother most likely did not know she was pregnant, and neither did the father. The man only found out that he was the actual father around 9:30 p.m. on the same day. Since he had no clue his girlfriend was pregnant, he was not expecting to have a son out of the blue. The man said, "And from that point on, my world has been going 10,000 places."
Helping abandoned babies
The illegal discarding of babies is sadly common everywhere in the world. A survey conducted by the National Safe Haven Alliance in 2021 found that 31 babies were placed in dumpsters, some were found in backpacks, and others were left in dangerous places around the U.S. Out of these babies, sadly, 22 of them did not make it. However, in the same year, 73 babies were saved by Safe Haven laws. This law allows parents who do not wish to or those who are unable to raise the baby to anonymously give the baby to a Safe Haven Provider without any repercussions. Thankfully, the man's baby was recovered just in time and was reported to be in stable condition after receiving treatment in the neonatal unit.
Imminent justice
As for the mother, she was accused of abandoning her baby and was asked to undergo a psychiatric test. After interrogation by the Calgary police, they found that this was not the first time she had dumped her newborn babies. She had done it twice before, in 2008 and 2009. It turns out, she knew about all three pregnancies, but chose to hide them from her partner.
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