Dec. 12--A Morton Grove woman has been charged with attempted first-degree murder after police said she placed her newborn baby in a plastic bag and hid it under a pile of towels.
Authorities called it "an absolute miracle" that the baby, who remained hospitalized in good condition Thursday, survived.
Police and paramedics were called to a Nagle Avenue home Monday by someone who said his pregnant sister was bleeding heavily.
When paramedics arrived, they could not find a baby and asked the woman, 21-year-old Xin Zeng, if she had given birth, said police Cmdr. Paul Yaras. He said Zeng refused to talk to investigators, so a fire lieutenant starting looking around the house.
"The paramedics didn't know she had given birth at that point," Yaras said. "They just knew she was bleeding all over the floor."
Responders found a newborn baby boy in a plastic bag that had been tied closed with a towel wrapped around it, underneath a pile of towels in the bathroom, Yaras said.
"The baby was blue and lifeless," Yaras said. "The lieutenant cut the baby out of the bag and gave the baby off to one of the other paramedics."
Officials believe the baby was born five to 15 minutes before paramedics arrived.
Yaras said the boy began to breathe as he was being removed from the house. As he was being treated in the ambulance, "he started getting color," Yaras said.
The baby was initially listed in critical condition at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital but had improved by Thursday, he said.
"It's an absolute miracle," Yaras said. "The hospital said as much. The fire personnel on scene said that if they had left at that point with the mother and without the baby, the baby would have been dead. He was, for all intents and purposes, dead at that point."
Police said Zeng is a college student and lives with her parents, who were out of the country when the baby was born.
"She gave birth, hid the baby and sealed him in a plastic bag and hid the bag and didn't tell anybody," Yaras said. "She made no effort to save the baby. She made no effort to provide care for the baby. At this point the baby's at the hospital being cared for, thank God."
He noted that Illinois' so-called safe haven law allows parents to avoid prosecution if they relinquish unharmed babies up to 30 days old at designated locations like hospitals and police and fire stations.
"You're in the middle of an area where we have rapid police and fire response," Yaras said. "We have a police station and a fire station nearby. We have plenty of support out there for young mothers. It's sad. She had the opportunity to get help for herself and get care as well. There's help out there for them and they can get it."
Zeng is being held in Cook County Jail on $10 million on a charge of attempted first-degree murder.
"It was real tough," Yaras said. "Our Fire Department did a phenomenal job. I got to give that crew a lot of credit."
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter.
