STEFANO ESPOSITO and TINA SFONDELES
The Chicago Sun-Times

Thomas Bierwirth peered into the plastic trash can lying on its side and saw only a dirty, wet bundle.

"There was no other garbage," the 48-year-old Chicago firefighter/EMT recalled Saturday. "I picked up the blanket slowly, unwrapped it and saw the head and his face. His eyes were open and fixed on me."

Bierwirth found himself staring back at an abandoned baby, its umbilical cord still attached. The infant, discovered Friday night in a trash can near 44th and South Rockwell, had dark hair and brown eyes, Bierwirth said.

"My heart felt so relieved," said Bierwirth, who has been a firefighter for about five years and is the father of two grown children.

When Bierwirth and his fellow firefighters were making their way to the scene, they knew only that they were responding to a report of a baby in the garbage. They did not know if the child was alive, Bierwirth said.

The baby was at St. Anthony Hospital on Saturday evening and doing "very, very well," said Antonia Hernandez, a hospital spokeswoman. She said the baby is believed to have been born two weeks before term and has been given antibiotics to ward off possible infections from being left in a trash can.

"The weight is normal," Hernandez said. "Everything is normal for a baby his age."

Police said Saturday the case remained under investigation and that they had no information about the child's mother.

A family returning home from work Friday night were apparently the first to hear the baby's cries and call 911. The Valle family lives one block north of where the baby was found.

"I was going to close the garage, and then we heard a baby crying," said Victorino Valle, 36.

"I couldn't believe it. He cried for a couple of seconds, and then he was just quiet."

Valle said the 911 dispatcher told him to look inside the trash can, but Valle replied he was too scared to take a peek. Valle said he opened the lid to let in some fresh air and then waited for police and paramedics to arrive. Valle said neither he nor his neighbors have any idea who the mother might be.

Bierwirth spent part of Saturday visiting the baby.

"I had this need to see if he was going to be OK," Bierwirth said. The nurses took note and nicknamed the new baby Anthony (after the hospital) Thomas (after Bierwirth).

Bierwirth said his wife has jokingly told him not to get any ideas about taking the baby home.

"That's what she said, 'No adoption. We've already got two kids,' " Bierwirth said.

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SAFE HAVEN LAW

Under the state's Safe Haven law, a mother may anonymously hand over an unharmed infant who is 7 days old or younger to personnel at any hospital, emergency medical facility, firehouse or police station with no questions asked. The baby will then be put up for adoption. The law doesn't apply to churches or other religious facilities.

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August 9, 2009