Mom didn't know she was pregnant

LINCOLN — A day earlier the young woman hadn't even realized she was pregnant.

Now here she was, on a Monday in mid-July, sitting in a bath tub of water and pushing a baby boy into the world.

She sterilized a pair of scissors to cut the umbilical cord and used bobby pins to seal the ends of the cord.

Then she handed the tiny newborn to her sister and asked her to take him to the hospital.

According to court documents which detail the sequence of events, the boy and his aunt arrived at Box Butte General Hospital in Alliance, Neb., at about 7:15 the night of July 20.

He was the first infant dropped off under Nebraska's year-old safe haven law.

Less than 48 hours later, his mother came to the hospital asking for the baby back. Court documents said she was flanked by her parents, her sister and the baby's father.

The parents and other family members are identified in the documents only by initials.

Whether the mother and father get to keep the baby depends on the courts and the state Department of Health and Human Services.

The safe haven law bars prosecution for leaving a child up to 30 days old with an employee at a state-licensed hospital.

It doesn't say what happens next with those infants.

State officials have said cases will be handled under existing child welfare procedures.

In this case, Box Butte County Judge Charles Plantz gave the state legal custody of the boy while genetic tests are carried out and the parents undergo drug testing and psychological assessments.

But Plantz made clear in a July 23 order that HHS could proceed with a plan to place the baby with the mother and have the grandmother move into the mother's home to help out.

HHS spokeswoman Jeanne Atkinson confirmed Friday that the agency is following that plan.

An affidavit filed by Larry Miller, the child's court-appointed guardian ad litem, said the arrangement would allow the baby's father easy access and would allow child welfare officials to visit.

The affidavit said hospital officials believed it would be best for the baby to be with his mother so he could nurse and so bonding could occur.

The mother stayed at the hospital and nursed her baby after coming forward on July 22.

According to the affidavit, the mother used the safe haven law because she was “scared and didn't know what to do next” after the baby's birth.

Until the birth, she had not realized she was pregnant. She told a social worker that her menstrual cycle typically was irregular and she had not gained much weight while pregnant.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 18.

Nebraska's original safe haven law garnered national and international attention because it contained no age limit.

State lawmakers added a limit during a special session last November.

The session was called after 36 children were abandoned under the original law. Most were troubled teenagers or preteens. Some people traveled from other states to give up their children.