Chicago woman abandons newborn in yard

I wrote about a woman who attempted to steal another couple's newborn baby at gunpoint only a few days back. This time, another news story came in from Chicago a woman already who hid her pregnancy from her family did the opposite, and abandoned her newborn baby in her neighbors' yard. This story made me really sad.

Wendy Sanchez, a 21 year old woman from Carpentersville, Chicago, gave birth to a girl, and left her in a diaper box near a garbage can in the backyard of her neighbors. Apparently Sanchez had sought an abortion, only to find out that the pregnancy was too far along. She then told her 18 year old boyfriend that she had aborted the pregnancy, and denied to her family, who were suspicious, that she was pregnant. Sanches was said to already have an 11 month old child when she went into labor. What strikes me from this story, reported by a local newspaper, is that she breastfed the baby before putting her in the box and leaving her, and even returned to see how the baby was doing and tried to breastfeed her again.

This is not a story about a heartless mother, but about a desperate one, or so it seems. When the baby was finally discovered and taken to hospital, she was completely healthy but suffered from mild hypothermia. She has been placed in foster care while custody issues are being resolved, and meanwhile the father is caring for Sanchez older child. Sanchez, who had the option of leaving her baby at a hospital or police station according to a Chicago safe haven policy has now been sentenced to six months in prison. She was diagnosed with severe depression after undergoing a psychological evaluation, and her lawyer said: "She's going through some serious psychological issues that she needs to get addressed and will get addressed.