Having a baby is not an easy thing to do. Being a mother requires patience, hard work, and more stamina than any one person has. Even so mothers find a way.

Not everyone is able to be a good mother and making the decision to give up a child is a heart-wrenching one, but sometimes it's for the best. There are adoption services offered before a child is born and there are safe surrender sites around cities if a mother chooses to give up a child after birth. No questions asked, no judgement.

There is no excuse for the abandonment of a defenseless child. Too often we read stories of infants being found, discarded in dumpsters, toilets or even worse. Those stories don't often have a happy ending, but thankfully this one does.

In the early morning of February 11, a man was approached by a woman in a white SUV. She pleaded with him to take her baby. Instead, he gave her directions to the nearest fire station, a place where she could surrender her newborn without penalty.

"He was approached by a female driving a white, smaller SUV. This female got out of her car, asked the man if he could help her and asked him to take her child," said Undersheriff Tyson Pogue from California's Madera County. "The man directed her to the fire station and the Valley Children's Hospital down the street and suggested she take the baby there."

It appears the woman did not follow the advice and it nearly had tragic consequences.

A short time later a newspaper delivery person was driving along the same stretch of road. Somehow, in the dark and chilly morning, the driver was able to spot the small bundle that had been left in the middle of the road.

They investigated and found a newborn baby girl with her umbilical cord still attached.

"It's very fortunate that the child was discovered by the newspaper delivery person before she was seriously injured or even possibly killed," said Pogue.

A child is fragile and the winter temperatures would have killed her just as surely as a passing vehicle. The carelessness of this girl's abandonment is cruel and would have surely led to her death if it wasn't for the miraculous appearance of the newspaper person.

The child was taken to hospital and is perfectly healthy.

"Luckily, she was discovered early enough that she'll make a full recovery."

Police are now searching for the mother who will certainly face charges if found.

Pogue reminds everyone that there are numerous sites that will allow mothers to surrender a newborn. It's too bad that this mother didn't know, or didn't care enough, to use them.