The newborn found in a Jinhua city apartment pipeline has been released from the hospital and sent home with his grandparents, according to the Telegraph.
The child, known as Baby 59 for the number of its hospital incubator, was given to his maternal grandparents Wednesday night, four days after he was found trapped in the sewage system of his mother's building.
The grandparents, who have asked to remain anonymous, have requested that the media "stop paying excessive attention to the baby," so that he may be raised "in a peaceful environment," according to a Chinese news service.
At first, the child's 22-year-old mother was expected to receive jail time for attempted murder, after flushing Baby 59 down the toilet.
But, as she told authorities, the entire event was a mistake. The young mother was impregnated out of wedlock, kept her gestation quiet and did not seek out a proper abortion because she could not afford one.
But last Saturday, the mother went into labor in her apartment, feeling immense pain in her lower abdomen. She sat on a squat toilet and inadvertently began giving birth. She tried to grab the newborn as it exited the womb, but could not grab hold quickly enough. The child slipped into the pipes a floor below, where firefighters sawed off a piece of the pipe and, hours later, freed the child from the metal encasement.
The landlady who found the newborn baby spoke to the Guardian, (see video below, contains some disturbing content) about the moment she first realized there was a child in the pipeline.
"When I came up here, I heard something, like the sound of a cat, or a rabbit. I couldn't tell what it was," she said.
The child is now in stable condition, after sustaining some bruises, labored breathing and a high fever.
Chelsea F.C. player Adrian Mutu told a Romanian television channel that he wants to adopt the baby.
The former striker said that he and his wife Consuelo, already parents of three, had discussed a plan to take in the child. If give the legal green light, Mutu and Consuelo would move forward with adoption.
"I couldn't figure out how to carry on living, how to eat my breakfast when I saw this story on TV," he said. "He's a special child. When I saw the baby I said 'I must adopt him. He has been sent to me by God."
The child's family has not commented on Mutu's sentiments as of yet.
