As she took a shower, her baby peacefully asleep in her bed, Elsje Pretorius experienced a moment that all parents dread: her daughter was no longer there.
All young parents are anxious about having their newborn “stolen” from them at the maternity ward or hospital, to the point that caregivers do not take their eyes off their baby after delivery. An extremely rare case that Elsje Pretorius, a mother who gave birth to her third child in September 2014 in Auckland, New Zealand, experienced. Three days after the birth of her little Nadine, the young woman returned to the hospital for check-ups. She was given a room with a bathroom at her disposal. And while her baby slept peacefully in his bed, Elsje took the opportunity to take a shower.
When she returned, her baby had disappeared. At first, she thought that the nurse in her room had taken her child in her arms, but when she realized that the nurse was disoriented herself, the mother quickly realized the seriousness of the situation. “I couldn’t breathe, I fell on all fours and searched desperately on the floor, thinking that maybe she had fallen out of her bed and rolled. That’s when I realised with horror that someone had taken my baby.” she tells the newspaper The Guardian.
While waiting for her husband Conrad to arrive at the hospital to support her in this terrible moment, the young mother feels a sense of guilt.I remembered over and over the second I had stepped away from Nadine’s bed. Why hadn’t I taken her with me into the bathroom? I felt trapped in a waking nightmare. I had never felt such fear.” she testifies.
The police quickly arrived on the scene to check the surveillance cameras. The police then noticed the presence of a woman outside the hospital, wearing dark glasses with a baby in her arms. It turns out that this person was known to the police: she was a woman living in the neighborhood who wanted to become a mother.
Finally, little Nadine was found (in good health) at this woman’s home.She was later tried and pleaded guilty. I never hated her, I felt sorry for her. She wanted a baby, not mine specifically. But I was glad a line was drawn.” confides the young woman, who since then has never left her child’s side.