Life was given on a sidewalk in Portland, Oregon. Due to the extreme nature of these events not much information has been received. First responders were called out at about 10:45 a.m. on reports of a child birth taking place. It was also reported that the mother walked off and left the baby there.
The PPB Neighborhood Response Team stated, “Unfortunately, we encountered somebody that was experiencing some pretty serious mental health crisis. Both my partner and I are CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) officers and we work pretty closely with folks in crisis at times. We were able to get her stopped and get her into an ambulance and onto a hospital for a physical and also address other issues.” -Nathan Kirby-Glatkowski
Officials reported that the mother was not cooperating with medical personnel and was taken to the hospital for a mental health evaluation. The baby girl was also taken to a local children’s hospital where she appears to be in good condition.
Pregnancies of women with pre-existing mental disorders, if that is the case here, can have many negative results that must be cared for consistently. Studies show that pregnant women with pre-existing mental health disorders were more likely to be unemployed, attend fewer antenatal visits and gained less weight. They sadly spend more time in hospitals during the postpartum period and were less likely to breastfeed their newborns.
