Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Mother delivers baby at home alone FRAMINGTON, Mass., Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A 22-year-old Framingham, Mass., woman had to be mother, doctor and nurse all by herself when she delivered her newborn boy at home alone. Advertisement Milagros De Leon said she cut the umbilical cord, cleaned the baby, wrapped him in a blanket and held him close to her as she cried silently out of pain and happiness. "I was so worried about him," De Leon told the MetroWest Daily News. "The only thing in my mind was to make sure he was fine. And thank God, he's fine." Baby Kevin Alberto De Leon-Cifuentes was born Tuesday night. An hour later, after De Leon's aunt came home, she asked a neighbor who speaks English to call 911. When the firefighters arrived at the scene, they were planning to help the woman. But, there wasn't much left to do. Advertisement GI's hope for Christmas miracle ABU GHRAIB, Iraq, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A group of Georgia soldiers is hoping for a Christmas miracle for a 3-month-old Iraqi baby with a birth defect. First Lt. Jeff Morgan, a member of the Georgia Army National Guard and a single father of five, has finally found a doctor back home who has agreed to operate on little Noor, if Morgan and his buddies can get her to the United States. Otherwise, as the soldiers all know, she will soon die. Noor, whose name means light in Arabic, was born with a severe form of spina bifida. Iraqi doctors lack the resources to treat her. She was given 45 days to live but so far she has beaten the odds and turns 3 months old Friday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said. Morgan had been furiously e-mailing friends and contacts in Atlanta to get help for Noor. Now, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta has stepped forward and is offering to treat the child. Man accused of stealing shoes for sex NORTON SHORES, Mich., Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A Michigan man was arrested for shoe theft after he allegedly trespassed at a school and athletic shoes were found in his car that were way too big for him. Advertisement Police in Norton Shores believe that Roger Weil wanted the shoes for "sexual gratification," the Muskegon Chronicle reported. Jose Gutierrez, a security guard at Mona Shores High School, found Weil in a hallway this week. Gutierrez thought he looked like a man caught by a security camera in November on the day a pair of shoes and $20 disappeared from the school. Gutierrez called police and with the responding officer escorted Weil to his car, where they found a pair of size 14 shoes. Weil has a long history of arrests and convictions for larceny, including previous thefts of shoes from schools. Mark Barnett, the police chief in Ludington, where Weil was arrested in 2002, said that Weil at the time told officers he wanted the shoes for sex. But Barnett said because no living victim is involved Weil cannot be charged with a sex crime. Zoo's prairie dogs die in tunnel collapse NORFOLK, Va., Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A tunnel collapse at a popular exhibit at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk has apparently wiped out all of the zoo's prairie dogs. Zoo officials told The Virginia Pilot newspaper that is it presumed all of the prairie dogs at the zoo died when recent heavy rains weakened the tunnel system dug by the burrowing rodents. Advertisement As many as 10 prairie dogs were killed. The exhibit, which cost $344,000 to develop, had been open about 15 months. It was designed to be interactive and featured plastic bubbles that zoo patrons could crawl into to get closer to the animals. Officials said they plan to replace the soil in the exhibit and introduce additional animals by next summer, the Pilot reported.
