By Dave Andrusko

The headline to this story captures the horror--that a baby would be disposed of like garbage--the shock--that the man who found the baby would find out later that evening that he was the father--and the miraculous--that the baby would be in good condition. (The man's name was not used to protect the baby's identity.)

Authorities estimate that the baby boy was born Tuesday between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. He was discovered approximately two hours later in a dumpster.

According to the stories' authors Jason van Rassel and Stephane Massinon, neither the 30-year-old father nor his 29-year-old girlfriend realized she was pregnant.

She had told him Tuesday morning she wasn't feeling well. But as he went home, he said he heard a stranger say, "'I think I hear a baby in the Dumpster.' With no knowledge at the time that this is my kid whatsoever, I went running over there, stood beside the Dumpster, heard the baby cry," he told the Calgary Herald.

He said he jumped in, and "personally opened the bag and uncovered all the stuff off," he said. "My first sight of my baby was covered in garbage."

The mother, who was still in the apartment as the baby was being rescued, was taken to the hospital about an hour after the discovery. "It wasn't until the police interview was over at 9 p.m that police confirmed he was the baby's father, he said," Rassel and Massinon write. "Police say he was shocked."

While the baby is now in stable condition, he was initially hypothermic and in life-threatening condition. "It was incredibly lucky the passersby responded to the cries of the baby," said Staff Sgt. Leah Barber of the child abuse unit. "I truly believe they saved his life."

Barber added, "Information suggests the woman was not aware of the pregnancy prior to the birth." The mother "is scheduled to undergo a psychiatric assessment and is facing charges of attempted murder, failing to provide the necessities of life and child abandonment," according to the newspaper.

The Calgary Herald writes that the father "vows the infant will be well cared for and promises to fight for custody. "

For more details, go to www.calgaryherald.com/sports/2010wintergames/Father+found+baby+northwest+Calgary+dumpster/3695688/story.html.

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