It's every new mom's worst nightmare. You give birth, trust that the hospital workers are going to take good care of your baby and protect her, and are then told something horrific: someone kidnapped your newborn -- right there in the one place where he and you should feel safe and secure.
Melissa McMahon lived this nightmare just a few days ago. The mom, who is from Quebec, simply did something most of us have done. She let a woman who she assumed to be a nurse take her baby from her room to be weighed. But the woman, who was dressed in scrubs, was only posing as a member of the hospital's staff. She snatched the infant girl and took off.
Understandably, McMahon described the incident as the "worst moment of our lives" and said the "worst possible scenarios" were playing in mom's and dad's heads. I mean, can you even imagine how powerless you'd feel?
But this story has a happy ending. Police immediately issued an Amber Alert on Monday night, which included a security-camera photo of the suspect and a description of her car. It spread like wildfire on Facebook, where four residents of the area identified the suspect and immediately called police to help guide them to her house.
When cops arrived at the unidentified woman's home just three hours after the Amber Alert was released, they found the baby unharmed. The woman, who is in her early 20s, was arrested on kidnapping charges. We don't have details about her background, nor do we have any idea what motivated her to take the baby.
Mom was in tears when police returned her little girl, whom she named Victoria. The whole thing was captured on camera and it's beyond amazing to witness their reunion. It's painful to think that this same incident could have taken place just 20 years ago and may have had a very different ending. There's no doubt that Facebook played a huge role in helping police find the woman who abducted Melissa's child.
I'm not saying baby Victoria wouldn't have been found without social media, but it likely would have taken a lot longer to identify the suspect. By the time cops did, who knows if she would have still been at her home with the infant.
Melissa has a message for all moms in hospitals: "Don't ever be fooled by a uniform."
Here's the video:
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Does this story make you feel differently about giving birth in a hospital and trusting hospital workers?
Image via Facebook