Prince Albert -
The Saskatchewan woman who gave birth in a Wal-Mart washroom told police she didn't think she was pregnant because three home tests showed negative results.
In a videotaped interview played in court Tuesday, April Halkett told police she never felt kicks in her stomach, but noticed she had become "chubby."
On the night of May 20, 2007, she began to feel pain, she said.
The next day, while on a road trip with friends to Prince Albert, she started getting cramps and went into the department store to use the toilet.
"When I sat down, he just came out," said Halkett, sobbing and wiping away tears. "I thought the baby was dead. He didn't move. He was all blue."
"I washed the blood off my hands, and then I ran out of there."
Halkett, 22, has pleaded not guilty to a criminal charge of child abandonment.
The store manager took the baby boy out of the toilet before paramedics arrived to help him start breathing.
Dr. Ayaz Ramji first examined the newborn at the hospital. He testified the baby was about one month premature and weighed just over six pounds.
He was cold and needed help breathing, but managed to survive.
Days later, after police released photos from store surveillance cameras of the mystery Wal-Mart mother, Halkett's friend recognized her and called police to tell them they must have the wrong person - Halkett wasn't pregnant.
Soon after, Halkett contacted police. She said she came forward when she learned her baby was actually alive.
"What's going to happen to my baby?" Halkett asked during the police interview.
"Am I able to see him?"
Her parents later took her to the Prince Albert hospital to visit the baby, and Halkett was then admitted herself into intensive care.
She had lost a lot of blood, developed an infection and pneumonia, said her stepfather Ken Charlette. He testified that Halkett had been gaining weight and he suspected she might be pregnant.
"I asked her straight out, 'Are you pregnant?' She said, 'No,"' Charlette told court.
The infant was eventually placed in foster care.
