SAN CLEMENTE : Couple Visit Baby Found by Husband

Richard and Virginia Human held newborn Noel Dolores in their arms Thursday, both elated that they again had the chance to see the infant.

“She’s so beautiful,” Virginia Human said. “Even more beautiful now. She has really beautiful features; she’s so content.”

It was the first time the Humans, parents of two grown, adopted children, had seen the baby since Richard Human found her in a small box in the gutter in front of his San Clemente home.

Noel Dolores, who had been wrapped in two blue blankets, was in good condition at Samaritan Medical Center in San Clemente, where she is being treated for hypothermia. The baby was named by hospital staff for the holiday season and the street where she was found, the 100 block of Avenida Dolores.

Police so far have no leads on who the child’s parents are, but a doctor said the baby had been left outside for 15 minutes to an hour, said San Clemente investigator Bart Massey.

About 8:15 a.m., Human, 65, a retired insurance agent, had been outside to get the morning paper. He noticed a small cardboard box, about 12 inches by 18 inches, with two bluish blankets hanging out the sides. The box had been placed in a curb gutter behind one of his cars, which was parked in the street about 25 feet from his driveway.

“I walked over to see what it was,” Human said. “I was curious. I lifted up the cover, and I saw this little foot sticking up. What a surprise. Right away I knew what it was.”

Then the baby whimpered.

“It whimpered as if to say, ‘Here, take me home,’ ” Human said. “She whimpered, but she wouldn’t cry. That’s what scared me.”

Thinking the baby’s wasn’t breathing correctly and freezing in the mid-40- adegree weather, Human ran inside with the child and called 911. Virginia Human, 63, held the baby in her arms until paramedics arrived.

The baby’s umbilical cord had been twisted, as if to make it come off, Richard Human said.

Still amazed at the whole situation, the Humans said they want to keep track of the infant after she is brought to Orangewood Children’s Home for abandoned and neglected youngsters. There, the baby will probably be placed in a foster home and eventually adopted through the Orange County Social Services Agency and the Juvenile Court, said Bob Theemling, director of Orangewood.

“If we would have been a little younger, we would have attempted to keep her,” Virginia Human said.

Hospital administrators said about 75 people have called to inquire about the baby, many asking about adopting the infant or where they could send gifts. A care package arrived at the hospital Thursday.

The baby’s doctor, Glenn Katz, said the baby’s mannerisms showed no signs that the mother had been a drug addict, Massey said. Katz also saw no indication that the mother was injured during childbirth.

The Humans believe that the mother of Noel Dolores was concerned that her daughter be found, even though she abandoned the child.

“She was a loving mother,” Richard Human said. “At least she was concerned to keep the baby alive. She wrapped her in the blankets. I know that’s what kept the baby from freezing.”