Left on Life’s Doorstep : Boy Investigates Strange Noise, Finds Newborn in Gym Bag

Strange noises coming from an abandoned gym bag on the doorsteps of a Long Beach nursery piqued James Walker’s curiosity early Wednesday morning, so he unzipped the tote a few inches and looked inside. That’s when he saw a tiny hand.

Inside the bag was a healthy newborn girl, about three hours old. Her umbilical cord was still attached and she had yet to be cleaned up.

But James, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Lindbergh Middle School, didn’t know the baby was fine. He wasn’t even sure if she was alive.

“I got scared. So I went running to Aunt Dori, called 911 and then we ran back to the bag,” said James, who lives across the street from where the baby was left in North Long Beach.

Dori Woods, 18, said the baby was “so stuffed” into the bag that it was hard to pull her out. “I was afraid of hurting her,” she said.

As her family, some members barely awake, began to gather around the baby, they noticed she felt cold and was not moving. They feared the worst. That’s when Delia Woods, mother of 12 and grandmother of 18, stepped in. She took the newborn, cradled her in her arms and softly cooed to her while pacing.

“I thought it was dead at first, but I cuddled her and she started crying,” Delia Woods said.

Then nearly everyone started crying, said James’ grandfather, Virgil Woods.

Long Beach police, who are seeking the baby’s mother, said they believe she may live in the area of the closed Long Beach Day Nursery, at 495 E. Plymouth Ave., where the newborn was abandoned. She was wrapped in a purple jacket with a neon green collar, according to police spokeswoman Linda Fierro.

The day before, the same bag had been on the nursery’s steps. But all it contained was a blue sweat shirt, Fierro said.

James Walker was on his way to school when he saw the bag. But after the morning hoopla, he skipped school and--along with his entire family--headed to the hospital to visit the baby they are calling Jamie.

When they arrived at Memorial Miller Children’s Hospital, Julie France, coordinator of the infant special care unit, took the 6-pound, 7-ounce baby out of an incubator and handed her to the youngster. He said it was his first time holding such a tiny baby. And he was glowing.

“She’s so little,” he said.

“She’s perfect,” France said, reassuring him. “If it weren’t for you, who knows what would have happened.”

James’ mother, Isabel Walker, teased him: “No, son, you can’t keep her.”

Workers with the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services plan to place the baby in a foster home, said Paula Lee, a clinical social worker with the hospital. “We’re all just grateful it turned out the way it did,” said Virgil Woods.

“That’s the good thing about being inquisitive,” Woods said of his grandson. “Sometimes it pays off.”