Shabbos baby captures community’s heart

NICOLA MILTZ

The couple were stopped dead in their tracks in Argyle Road, when they heard what sounded like the first cries of a newborn baby.

“My wife knows that sound – it’s unmistakable,” said Darryl, who immediately went to inspect where the desperate, primal sound was coming from. “Something drew me to a black bag, and as I got closer, I knew that was where the sound was coming from,” he said.

“We found her in the doorway of a boundary wall in a well-lit space, tucked up against the wall. It was crazy,” said Darryl this week.

The baby was inside a black recycled shopping bag, wrapped in a white knitted blanket snuggled with a pink sarong, according to Darryl.

“She wasn’t cold to the touch, she was still warm. She was still attached to the umbilical cord, which was still soft. Her hair was caked in birth fluid. I guess she woke up for a feed. And she settled as soon as I picked her up and held her hand,” he said.

Time seemed to stand still in the minutes and hours that followed as the couple’s protective instincts kicked in.

“We wanted to get her to safety as quickly as possible, make sure she was breathing properly, and that she was warm and fed,” said Natalie.

So while Darryl walked slowly with her cradled in his arms, Natalie scrambled ahead to the house of a nearby neighbour who is involved with Hatzolah.

Shortly thereafter, a Hatzolah emergency rescue team arrived on the scene, and set to work to make sure the baby was kept stable and warm. She was whisked off to the Linksfield Park Clinic, where she is being looked after in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Her exact date of birth is unknown. She weighed 2.1kg, and her height was 44 centimetres when she arrived. She is apparently “doing well”, said Natalie this week.

The devoted nursing staff and paediatric doctor looking after her named her Odala Thando which loosely translated means blessing of love, according to Natalie.

The Mayers family, including the couple’s three sons, have become smitten with the baby. Natalie has spent hours at the hospital bottle feeding the hungry infant every few hours.

So, too, have other members of the Jewish community, with constant offers of help pouring in ever since news of the baby’s rescue came to light.

“The support has been amazing. From the staff at Linksfield Neonatal, Hatzolah, ChaiFM, the listeners, my own local and international network, my work colleagues. It’s viral,” said Darryl.

“Apart from countless calls inquiring about the baby’s health, people have offered things like clothes, nappies, bum cream, and food,” he said.

He said Odala had given a face to the countless abandoned babies in South Africa.

“She has crept into all our hearts. At first I wanted to keep my distance,” said Darryl, “but now I miss her, it actually feels like she’s ours. It’s outrageous, it’s unbelievably emotional. Natalie is there for every feed, practically every nappy change. This baby had a hard start, for now we want to make sure she is cradled, loved, and nurtured” he said.

In a strange twist, he said he had recently been studying a portion in the Gemara about finding an abandoned baby.

“I don’t know why Hashem placed her in our path,” he said, “ultimately, she has landed in safe hands for now. That’s a huge thing, and the community has reached out incredibly.”

Said Natalie, “It has been life-changing, overwhelming, and heartbreaking plus twenty thousand other emotions.”

The future for baby Odala is uncertain, but for now she is surrounded by love, laughter, and light, and is being nurtured around the clock.