FORT MYERS, Fla. — Abigail Girdler’s two-month-old baby named Rowan has spent 19 days in Golisano Children’s Hospital in Fort Myers. She said his biological father almost killed the baby by giving it shaken baby syndrome.
On September 13, Abigail said she went to work and left her newborn baby, Rowan, at home with his father for the first time.
“If I didn’t have a job it would’ve been harder to take care of Rowan,” Abigail said.
Abigail said Nathan Stone, 22, was her boyfriend. They’ve known each other for two years, lived together and he was the father of her baby. She said she thought she could trust him, but was wrong.
“His dad had messaged me numerous times during the day saying, ‘Hey you know he’s crying, he won’t stop.’ I asked him ‘Do you want me to come home? I’ll come home,’ and he kept telling me no,” said Abigail.
When she got home from work that night, baby Rowan wasn’t acting like himself, and he started having seizures.
“Full blown, full body seizures, little man ended up with four brain bleeds,” said Abigail.
Rowan got so sick that doctors had to put him in a medically induced coma on a ventilator for 15 days.
“Throughout that whole time his dad kind of acted like he didn’t care,” said Abigail.
Doctors told her his illness wasn’t from natural causes, Rowan had shaken baby syndrome from child abuse.
“I didn’t want to believe that someone that I trusted so much could’ve done this,” said Abigail. “It wasn’t an accident.”
“He had a significant amount of brain damage, an adequate amount of dead-bearing cells. Little man had four brain bleeds,” said Abigail.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office arrested Stone on Friday for aggravated child abuse, but now he’s out of jail on bond.
“I hope he’s miserable. I hope every day that he sits waiting for his trial, I hope he understands that his life’s over,” said Karinda Girdler, Rowan’s Grandma. “I hope it festers, I hope he wakes up miserable, I hope he goes to bed miserable.”
“I will spend the rest of my life doing whatever I can to get my little peanut justice,” said Karinda.
Meanwhile, Stone’s son Rowan is still in the hospital fighting for his life.
“He will never get to run, he will never get to play… the damage is bad,” said Karinda.
Rowan’s mom said her son has finally snapped out of a coma and is off a ventilator, but doctors say he may never be the same again.
“What hurts me the most is I didn’t get to hear his first word. I don’t know if I’ll ever hear his first word,” said Abigail.
Stone is out of jail, but according to his warrant, he is currently not allowed to see the baby. Abigail said she hasn’t made contact with Stone since he hurt her baby.
Stone’s next court date is on October 30.
“If we could help another young mother or another young father even to speak, with when you’re angry — walk away, put him in the crib and walk away. They’ll be ok in their crib,” said Karinda.