Two still attached by umbilical cord

ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 5, 2008

LONG BEACH – A 17-year-old girl gave birth secretly at home, then
walked four blocks to a hospital with the baby still attached by its umbilical
cord.

“I was just a little nervous” when the labor began,
Xochitl Parra said Friday from St. Mary Medical Center as she cradled her
8-pound, 3-ounce son, Alejandro.

The boy was normal and “eating like a champ,” said Dr.
Jose Perez, director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Parra said she was alone and taking a shower about
5:30 a.m. Wednesday to get ready for school. Then the contractions took over.

“I felt his head coming, so I sit down and pushed so
he could come out,” she said.

Parra did not call 911 because the home phone was
disconnected, and she did not want to wake the neighbors because it was so
early. Instead, she wrapped the baby, got dressed and went to the hospital on
foot.

“I started walking and jogging to the hospital,” she
said.

The teen walked into the hospital lobby and asked for
help, Perez said.

“She still had the placenta and the baby was still
attached, so of course everyone said, 'Don't move!' ” he said.

Parra, a sophomore at Long Beach Poly High, said she
had kept her pregnancy a secret because she was afraid her mother would “kick me
out of the house.” Parra said her mother, Elsa Ramirez, has accepted the
situation and is going to help her care for the baby so she can continue
attending school.