Police searching for mother of newborn abandoned for days outside Mass. home: "It broke my heart"

Police are looking for a mother they say abandoned her newborn at a home in Springfield, Mass. over the weekend, CBS Boston reports.

On a frigid Sunday night, Juliannys Aviles and her husband came home to find the baby boy tucked in a tilted car seat, cold and crying.

"Being a mother, I don't know how anybody could do that," Juliannys told the station. said. "His face was so swollen, his feet were red and super swollen, his whole body was cracked, his hands were cracked -- he needed the medical attention."

The newborn had been outside their home for two days, wrapped in blankets.

Police believe the baby was abandoned from Friday night until Sunday evening, when the Aviles family got back from a weekend getaway in Boston.

Juliannys kept the baby warm while her husband ran to get help from their neighbor, Marilyn White. She'd seen the car seat and thought it was a package, since the Aviles have small children.

"I looked at the baby's eyes all you could see was those swollen eyes from crying so much. It was so devastating. It broke my heart in pieces," Marilyn White said.

The infant was taken to Baystate Medical Center, where he was being treated.

Now police are searching looking for his mother, and they -- and those who saved his life -- have many questions.

"I hope mom gets help, we all know she needs the help," Juliannys said. "I hope she's able to get the help."

The family hopes to foster the baby they helped to give a second chance. "We saved his life; he was meant for us," Juliannys said. "He was meant to be with us."

Police are searching through surveillance video taken from cameras in the area where the baby boy was found. 

Massachusetts is a "Baby Safe Haven" state, meaning parents can legally surrender a newborn seven days or younger at a hospital, police station or fire department without facing any criminal prosecution.