http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/126471

Published: 04.26.2006

Border agents rescue woman who had just given birth
By Alexis Huicochea
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A woman who became stranded in the desert near Arivaca was rescued Monday by Border Patrol agents after giving birth in some brush, officials said Wednesday.
Around 8 p.m., a Customs and Border Protection helicopter crew spotted the 18-year-old woman and two other adults in the desert near Elkhorn Ranch and they appeared to be in distress, according to a news release from the agency.
When the agents arrived in the area, the woman told them that she had just given birth in the brush before the helicopter crew saw them, the news release stated. The woman was not doing well and told agents that she did not know she was pregnant.
Because of the thick brush and terrain, it was not possible to land the helicopter near the woman, so Tucson Sector agents took the mother and her baby to Arizona 286 and Elkhorn Ranch Road where BORSTAR agents treated them, the release said.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety then sent out a helicopter, which took the mother to University Medical Center while the baby was taken by ambulance, according to the news release.
The woman's citizenship was not determined due to her severe medical condition, it said.
Information on how far along the woman was in her pregnancy was not available Wednesday, said Agent Shannon Stevens, a Tucson sector Border Patrol spokeswoman. The woman and her baby are expected to live.
Stevens also had no information on what happened to the two other people who were with the woman.
This fiscal year, CBP agents have rescued more than 80 people in the Tucson sector, the news release stated.