Baby abandoned in Wheaton had hypothermia, witness says
Nunu Sung’s baby was cool to the touch and turning blue by the time anyone found the newborn in a neighbor’s yard in Wheaton, a paramedic testified Tuesday.
The child also was lethargic, with “slow, shallow” breathing, a weak pulse and a temperature so low it wouldn’t immediately register, said firefighter and paramedic Thomas Maish.
Maish was one of the first responders to treat the infant for hypothermia after Sung gave birth outdoors and left the child under a bush at a neighbor’s home early June 12, 2009. The boy was then rushed to Central DuPage Hospital, where he arrived “covered in leaves and dirt,” according to an emergency room nurse.
“He wasn’t moving. He wasn’t crying. He looked to be almost dead,” testified Sherria Covington, a nurse at the Winfield hospital. “The biggest thing was just trying to get him to warm up.”
Both witnesses took the stand for the second day of testimony in the parental fitness trial of Sung, a 27-year-old Burmese refugee who now wants desperately to care for the boy, according to her attorneys. She pleaded guilty to obstructing justice last year and is scheduled for parole from prison next month.
Sung’s neighbor found the child about 90 minutes after the birth. When Maish arrived moments later, he said, the baby’s temperature was too low to register on his calibrated gauge.
Emergency officials dried the baby, wrapped him in aluminum foil with heat packs and administered oxygen. Maish said they clamped the child’s still-attached umbilical cord to prevent blood loss and infection and suctioned amniotic fluid from his mouth and nose so he could breathe.
“The baby was … not moving as a normal infant would,” he testified.
Once he arrived at the hospital, the child was put in a warming device and massaged to improve his circulation. He eventually registered a temperature of 87.7, Covington testified.
“He needed a lot of attention,” she said.
Sung testified last week she planned to go back for her son after giving birth behind her cousin’s apartment but grew fearful once police were involved. She said she kept her pregnancy a secret, even from family, because she was unwed and ashamed.
Her trial in front of DuPage County Judge Robert Anderson is expected to continue through mid-January, with as many as 49 witnesses to testify. The proceedings resume Wednesday.