DAVENPORT, IA (KWQC/CNN) - The father of a baby who was allegedly left for dead by his mother in Iowa spoke out after the mother received probation.
She's accused of putting a baby in a trash can less than 16 months ago, just after birth.
16-month-old Matthew Addison is now a healthy toddler now.
Brandon Addison, Matthew’s father, said it all started after his daughter Ahnna got sick.
“Ahnna was really sick and had to be put in Iowa City Hospital. While we were up there I had to leave one night to get ready for work," Brandon Addison said.
While at the university hospital with Ahnna, Matthew's mother, Ashley Hautzenrader unexpectedly gave birth.
She then tried to flush him down the toilet, wrapped him in a pillowcase and left him in a trash can.
A hospital employee found Matthew, and DHS immediately called Brandon.
"That's when my heart just sunk and all I could think of was please let him be okay and they said that he was really cold and he needed to be put under a heating lamp. I was in shock," Brandon Addison said.
He said he thought she was pregnant, and confronted her about it. He wanted to remind parents that there are other options.
"If you cannot handle it, do not do what she did. Go out there and learn about safe havens and adoption agencies," Brandon Addison said.
Brandon said an important conversation will happen once Matthew gets older.
"Obviously one day when he's older I'm going to have to sit down and talk to him and hopefully he'll be mature enough to understand what happened and it will initially be his decision to forgive her or not," Brandon Addison said.
Hautzenrader was reportedly sentenced on Friday to five years of probation.
A psychiatrist testified that Hautzenrader suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, due to the health issues of her first child Ahnna.
Ahnna had a heart transplant when she was younger. Her weakened immune system was the reason she was in Iowa City at the time.
Like her brother, she is now a healthy child.
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