Local Couple arrested for endangering newborn baby

Local couple arrested for endangering baby's life

Infant found dehydrated and severely malnourished

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

An Auburn couple is in custody in the Placer County Jail on charges that they did not feed and properly care for their baby girl. Abraham David Mark, 49, and his wife, Monica Sue Mark, 38, were arrested Tuesday afternoon by Auburn Police officers and charged with one count each of felony cruelty to a child.

Sgt. Victor Pecoraro said a special allegation will be added to the charges because the victim was under 5 years of age.

The couple's 8-week-old baby girl was found by Placer County Child Protective Services to be dehydrated and severely malnourished, Pecoraro said.

"We got involved and did the criminal investigation," he said. "The baby is out of the hospital now and is in the custody of the county."

He said the baby lost about two pounds since her birth.

"She was in the 4-pound range and her skin was very loose," Pecoraro said. "She was emaciated."

The Marks were arrested Tuesday afternoon at their Racetrack Street apartment. Both are being held on $250,000 bail each.


http://www.auburnjournal.com/articles/2008/01/30/news/top_stories/05endanderedbaby30.txt

What do you think? The ages are incorrect. Both are10 years younger than listed.

 

Do I know you?

I don't understand your negative post....

 

I never stated there was anything in particular I wanted to discuss.
Also not sure why you ask right up front what my reasons are for posting.
With all due respect, unless you are interested in the topic of my thread, please move on. Thanks

 

A Placer County Sheriff Detective told me.
A close friend of mine also said she isn't that old. He has known her for years.

 

I can understand what you are saying Annsni. It's really easy to have a breakdown or have your emotional state to be so whacked you don't know what you are doing. I still have a hard time forgiving myself for what I did to our son when he was a newborn. It certainly contributed to the decision not to have any more children.

We were mentally exhausted taking care of our newborn, especially my wife. I went to work on maybe a few hours of sleep for weeks. The baby cried and cried. We took him to the Doctor over and over, and the Doctor did nothing. He would say he is fine, just keep breastfeeding. Gave us a pump. Despite our concerns, he said my wife was producing milk if she had trickles of white coming out when using the breast pump. But she didn't get more than a few drops and kept it on her breast for like a half hour. We made more Doctor appointments, told the Doc she wasn't producing milk. Only got a few tablespoons but he said when the baby sucked, it was different. He said baby was getting enough milk. When the baby sucked hard, he wasn't getting anything. He would put his mouth on her nipple, start to suck, then let go abruptly screaming in fury.
The Doc convinced us differently, saying we were tired, and needed rest. My wife and baby were cramping up really bad in their stomaches. She would hunch over in pain, baby did the same thing. She told the Doc she felt they both had the same medical problem. He again, dismissed it.

I almost lost my job due to so many absences. My wife was so tired she started hallucinating after about 5 weeks from the lack of rest. She called my job leaving a message that the dresser was coming at her. She knew she was hallucinating at the time, but it still scared her because it seemed so real. She could barely walk, would hold onto the walls because the floor felt like it was moving. She wouldn't let herself fall asleep in between the baby's rest, he woke up every half hour crying to nurse but it did not good. She felt he was sick and he was dying. She wasn't too far off with her insights. She walked around bare-chested as her nipples felt like someone was rubbing sand paper on them. They were so swollen up. She took many cold showers. She held her chest everywhere she went, so of course, it was hard to hold the baby at the same time. A bra was painful. Her nipples looked like little balls, all swollen up and blue. The baby cried all night, she cried lightly and constantly, it was awful. She weighed maybe 115 lbs, lost about 10 lbs during this time. She is 5 ft 7, and already to thin.

The Doctor told her (by phone) her breasts were sore from nursing. He didn't want to see her though she kept asking and telling him they were swollen up. All Doctors here were so busy at the time due to the sudden population growth. We couldn't get in anywhere.

Finally, we went to the County (though we didn't financially qualify) and begged a nurse walking by to look at our newborn and we would pay her a few hundred dollars under the table. And pay a Doctor under the table if she could find one.

It took her less than a minute to diagnose the problem. She opened his mouth and said he had thrush (Yeast). Thrush looks like milk, but more curdled on the babies tongue. When the nurse heard he was born weighing almost 9 lbs and now weighed only 5 lbs, (8 weeks later) she grabbed a Doctor walking by. He brought us right in. He gave us amoxicillin for the baby and my wife. She had invisible thrush on her nipples and in her bloodstream. Thrush is yeast, she had given birth while having a yeast infection.
The Doctor looked shocked when she suddenly flashed him. She was afraid to ask if he would see her, she didn't want to hear no because she hurt. Her nipples looked deformed, he was shocked at how swollen they were. She put the medication on right there in the room, it immediate relieved the symptoms so it didn't feel like scratch paper. The swollenness started going down immediately during the drive home. Baby calmed down immediately when it was rubbed on his gums and mouth, as the stinging ceased. I don't know if in our mental state we even realized the baby lost weight. We were so tired. The Doctor said to get some formula and mix with rice cereal for the baby needed to gain weight.

We fed him rice cereal when we got home. He could now eat without pain, then slept for hours. So did we. Then we put him on solid foods and formula because he kept throwing up the formula. The experts say they can't survive on only one bottle of formula a day at 8 weeks combined with jar baby food but he survived just fine. Even ate the meat jar food at about 8 1/2 weeks. Peas, pears, bananas etc..He ate like a pig, got fat really quick so we had to slow it down when he doubled his weight so soon.
He's 16 and our only child. He's very healthy except for allergies. Thank God for that Doctor.

I still don't care to babysit little babies for fear they could be dying right in front of me. Sorry the story is so long...

 

Yes, I hear the longer you breastfeed, the healthier the child. Less diseases in life. Good for you! It's a hassle, but worth it.

Wow, just 1 hour training in breastfeeding
We were turning 20 years old (only a few months apart) , we were ignorant. It wasn't just the Doctors fault.

There are some long term health issues that remain. Because her nipples were so swollen big for so long, one remains larger than the other and is permanently damaged. It is constantly tender, and feels like it's padded because I guess the swelling never really went down completely. Still looks swollen. The blood vessels inside are damaged, and there are a few visible tiny blue lines if you look close. Blood vessels I guess. It is uncomfortable and hurts her sometimes, that is the hardest part.
She is suppose to be getting breast exams to rule out cancer, but is too self-conscious. Avoids breast exams and pap smears (they go hand in hand with the physical) When our good friend had a practice, she went to him (he's a GP) but he retired like 6 years ago.

Her OB said he thought she didn't have enough skin on her nipples to start with, they have always been really soft and tender. I noticed that too.

That's a great service you do helping the new moms. You're their angel, you probably have no idea of the impact. In ensuring they breastfeed properly, you may be preventing long term health issues :1_grouphug:

 

Thank you for that.

Huh, I thought you just apologized?

You entered the thread with a bang blirting out a question of why I posted my thread without even saying hello to me. I don't know you.
You then apologize
And in the same breath, suddenly you call me abrupt and suspicious.

So.... now you now are reminded upon why you take these breaks from the BB?

Maybe you are a nice person. I haven't had the privilege to find out yet. You haven't allowed it. All I see is cold and hot in each of your threads, complaints, personal questions, without even a simple hello.

Ann works with new moms, so I felt it was best to tell her our story so she can use it to maybe help other new moms. It's certainly not something I would normally post online, and my history is not the reason why I posted the story.


If you can't stand not asking a question (I am that way so I relate) here is an example of how to go about it.
Hi Joe

This is an interesting thread. With so many child abuse cases across the country, I wondered why you were posting this one? I realize this is a message board, and we all must be safe to protect our identity when online, so if your answer could reveal anything about you or anything you are uncomfortable with, then feel free to pass on it. This is my first communication with you, yet I am coming forward with a personal question right up front. I have a hard time entering discussions like everyone else, so I wondered if there was anything particular you wanted to talk about. Might help me break the ice. Thanks

Btw, my name is Bapmom

 

Hi Ann
I looked up mastitis- ouch, that must have hurt. You poor thing :saint:

This means you have to keep seeing this breast surgeon because of the past mastitis to rule out cancer? Every six months seems very frequent.
If it's ok to ask, what happened exactly? did the milk go into your bloodstream because you were gorged and swollen so it had nowhere else to go? So it poisoned your system causing you now to be more likely to get breast cancer from it? (and because your mother had it). Are you uncomfortable sometimes still?
I might look that up online. With almost all health problems there is probably a certain diet you should be following, or some foods you should be avoiding.

I don't eat too much sugar because I have a yeast imbalance. My wife used to get yeast infections but she changed her diet and she doesn't even get them when she is on antibiotics.

Glad your bad experience is being used to help others.

 

duplicate post

 

I joined around Christmas 2006 and didn't start posting or getting into the BB some months later. I have been active on the BB for almost a year I believe.

Ok. No problem.

Just would have appreciated a Hi Joe before the first sentence questioning my reasons or motives for my post, that's all.[/QUOTE]

In reading your post, I thought that is what you told me as a reason for your abrupt opening post. I am sorry, that was my mistake. I misunderstood. I do not think you have a hard time entering discussion, but I know I had that experience when I first joined the BB

I don't think you knew me, nor do I know you so there was likely no forgetting of one another imo. I could be wrong.

Your first sentences were not worded that way imo. If you still cannot understand, then I can't do much more. Let's drop it ok

I don't think anyone stated the story had anything to do with a Mom not knowing how to nurse her baby. It went that direction though.

Yeah, she could have bottle fed. That's a great idea, I don't know of any churches which have that resource except Ann's.

I don't know how anyone couldn't have noticed, but it doesn't surprise me. Sounds like you were more mentally equipped to have a baby, and probably had a mature set of friends looking out for you.
We brought our baby to our Lamaz reunion at about 6 weeks. He was the largest baby born yet the smallest one in the picture with all of the other babies. It was obvious he was little, but no one asked us, though we did say we were having a really hard time. Most of our friends at the time were our age (around 20) and in College so they didn't know much about breastfeeding. Seemed uncomfortable when my wife would discreetly breastfeed in front of them. Many of them left about that time so we made friends with older couples in a Mom's group some months later.
Yes, I agree. There is something wrong with their thinking. Except they brought their baby to it's 6 week Dr's appointment so I don't believe they were trying to harm their child. I hear they both are "a little slow" yet they are very nice people.

Very good advice. I agree.
We joined a mom's group of about 100 families when our son almost 1 year old. We were both very active until he entered kindergarten when most of the families drop out. Made a ton of friends, most were at least 10 years older, wealthy professionals who moved from the Bay Area to obtain a nicer home for 1/4 the cost. We learned how to parent though watching them. They kept my new business afloat during a recession, we advertised for $4 a month in their newsletter. We traded babysitting with a few of them who lived nearby. To this day, a few of the couples are still good friends of ours.

If we had joined while she was pregnant, someone with knowledge would have brought us a meal and helped us out. All the mom's were very helpful and inquisitive with pregnant and new mothers, always inquiring upon breastfeeding.

I headed the meals on wheels for new mothers and helped with the holiday parties. Usually talked to them about breastfeeding to surmise whether to send another mom to their home. One lady didn't produce enough milk, something I had suspected was happening so another Mom got her baby on a bottle (she was also a nurse before giving birth). Helped me ease my guilt for screwing up so badly with my own son. Still keep a few of their brochures in my truck, copy them, and hand them out to pregnant mothers when I have dealings with them through business or whatever.