A stork arrives, landing in the front yard. His bright blue or pink wings announcing proudly the name of a baby, including all the details of the baby's arrival, the weight, length, date, and time the baby decided to come into the world. The stork is a sign of pride, of celebration, a way to let family and friends know of the new family member's safe homecoming. The key word here is the WHOLE world now knows about the new arrival.

This means anyone who drives by your house is now privy to the personal information of your sweet little boy or girl. Call me paranoid, but I feel that is a bit too much information to be sitting in the front yard of anyone’s house. Do you know everyone who drives by your house? Do you want everyone driving by your house to know all of this information about your child?

My first baby, Jonathan, died in utero on September 11 1990 because of a molar pregnancy. My second pregnancy ended on October 22 1992 because of cord strangulation, Jacob was full term at 39 weeks. The third time was the charm; my beautiful Earth Angel Rachal Hope arrived on December 9 1993. We brought our little girl home the next day. My parents, her proud grandparents, had ordered a GIANT pink stork to announce the arrival of her homecoming.

As we drove up to our small green rented home, there he stood in his 6-foot tall glory. He was HUGE, he was pink, and he was SCREAMING look a new baby has ARRIVED. I immediately began to panic, saying OH NO that is NOT staying in our yard, and telling every Tom, Dick and Harry kidnapper we have a new baby to steal. Rachal’s father thought it was nothing to worry about at the time, and he was able to see the sentiment behind the idea. I could only think about the two girls in St. Louis, both kidnapped and murdered in the last month of my pregnancy, and was having the beginning of a panic attack.

My parents had a hard time understanding the basis of my fear, although they understood that you do not mess with a new mother’s hormones and agreed to take down the stork. The police officers I know agree the stork is not a recommended way to announce the arrival of a newborn. Just as the fire department say they do not agree with putting stickers on the outside a child’s bedroom window that suggests a child sleeps here. According to the fire department people move and the occupants often forget to remove the stickers. The fire departments tell me they check EVERY room regardless of the stickers, because that is protocol.

We do not have specific statistics to know how many incidents have occurred nationwide, yet many parents have reported being approached by someone they did not know after the birth of a baby, and feeling uncomfortable about the encounter, and they had a stork in the front yard. Most recently, 7-day-old Abby Woods kidnapped from her home in Lonedell Missouri at gunpoint. Police say there was a metal sign with the words, Welcome Home Abby in the front yard. Police question whether it played a part in her kidnapping.

According to Stephenie Ochsenbine the baby’s mother, a woman asked to use a telephone. Once inside the home, the woman displayed a gun, and began stabbing the baby’s twenty-one-year old mother multiple times. Before everything was over Stephanie had her throat slashed and the woman kidnapped Abby. A one-year-old boy was also home during the abduction, and not harmed. Abby’s mother managed to carry her one-year-old son to a neighbor’s house and the neighbor called 911. When police arrived they quickly issued an amber alert is for Abigale Lynn Woods.

Abby is now nine days old, she was wearing a pink dress with a flowered collar when abducted. Abigale Lynn Woods is a Caucasian baby with blue eyes and black hair; she has a birthmark between her eyes. She weighs 6 pounds, and is 19 inches long. Police speculate the motive in Abigale’s kidnapping may be because of the kidnapper’s inability to conceive or carry a pregnancy to term or someone who recently had a child who died.

The kidnapper described as white, 30 to 40 years old, 5 feet 8, weighing about 200 pounds, with dark, possible red or black hair pulled under a baseball-style cap with a worn bill. She wore sunglasses, a black scarf around neck, a gray or brown T-shirt, and blue jean shorts.

If you have any information on finding, Abigale Lynn Woods please call the authorities at 888-265-8639 or your local authorities at 911.