Search Continues For Mother After Paramedics Save Newborn In Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A newborn was saved from certain death on a Brooklyn street Wednesday night.
The mother who delivered the baby girl is still missing and officials fear she could be in grave condition.
FDNY officials say around 6:30 p.m. they were flooded with calls reporting a woman walking with the infant -- the umbilical cord still attached with a shoestring tied around it – near the corner of Bedford Avenue and St. John's Place in the Crown Heights section of the borough.
1010 WINS' John Montone speaks with paramedic Carl Gandolfo
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The mother eventually walked to Rogers Avenue, knocked on a door and handed the unresponsive baby to a stranger.
The stranger held the unconscious girl and called police.
Once officers arrived at the scene they took possession of the child and requested paramedics.
Paramedic Carl Gandolfo, 36, told 1010 WINS the baby was "lifeless, blue in color, eyes closed, mouth closed, limp body, no muscle tone, not moving, unresponsive."
A crowd of about 30 people -- comprised of fellow medics, nurses, police officers, fire officials and witnesses – gathered, urging him on as he worked to revive the newborn.
"It was a pretty chaotic scene," Gandolfo said. "Everybody's yelling and screaming at you because their concern is getting the baby back to life. I've been in chaotic situations before on this job and nothing was quite like this."
Gandolfo, who has a 15-month-old child of his own and another on the way, worked desperately to open the infant's airways and administer CPR.
Gandolfo spent seven minutes, which he says felt like an eternity, working on the baby.
Cries of life finally erupted from the once lifeless infant and the bluish-purple skin tone changed to a pink hue and the baby regained consciousness.
The child is now in the neonatal intensive care unit at Kings County Hospital in serious but stable condition.
Police are still canvassing the area in hopes of finding the mother who they say is at risk of dying from blood loss, fluid loss and other possible pregnancy complications if she doesn't receive medical attention.
