Widower works to keep his family going after baby cut from womb of slain wife

PASCO — Looking at Salvador Campos cradled in his father's arms, it's hard to tell the baby entered the world any differently from anyone else.

He looks around, sleeps, squirms and drinks from a bottle.

When his father, Juan Felipe Campos Gomez, 35, of Pasco, holds his son and looks at him, he smiles at the life and beauty he sees in an infant who survived an almost unimaginable birth.

Salvador was cut from his mother's womb June 27, and his mother, Araceli Camacho Gomez, was found dead in Columbia Park a few hours later.

Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong, of Kennewick, has been charged with aggravated first-degree murder in the slaying.

The infant faces a life of possible impacts from brain damage he suffered during the ordeal, but Campos Gomez finds strength from the baby as he begins working to take care of his three children on his own.

"That's the best thing that's happened to me — that he's with me," Campos Gomez said in Spanish on Tuesday, speaking through an interpreter.

When Salvador was removed from his mother's womb that night, he went two or three hours without medical attention, and after the second hour, he began suffering oxygen deprivation, Campos Gomez said.

"The good thing that helped the baby was that his lungs were well-developed, and that's what saved his life," Campos Gomez said.

Salvador was about three weeks premature and weighed less than 4 pounds. Now he weighs 11 pounds and is about 20 inches long — 22 inches, including his impressive head of hair.

The baby, in fact, has more hair than his older brother, Juan Carlos Campos, 10, who has a short haircut and planned to start the fourth grade Wednesday.

Doctors have told Campos Gomez that they can't know until later how Salvador's oxygen deprivation will affect him. It could manifest itself in mental or physical impairments.

The long-term effects of oxygen deprivation are hard to tell in a baby because they usually have to do with skills that haven't been developed yet, said Tracy Moran-Patton, pediatric clinical instructor in the nursing department at Washington State University Tri-Cities.

To give Salvador the best chance at normal functions, Campos Gomez follows the doctors' prescribed regimen of medication and physical-therapy exercises. His legs were stiff and his hands were too clenched, so Campos Gomez does exercises with the limbs to loosen them.

The leg movements seem to hurt Salvador, he said. The exercises have loosened his hands, but now they don't grab at a finger placed in the palm. He does, however, reach for the bottle with his hands when it's put to him.

Campos Gomez is struck with how hard it is to keep everyone on schedule. He does his best to stay on top of the cooking, the cleaning and hospital appointments.

Through it all, he thinks of Araceli, he said.

"Especially when the baby's crying or [daughter] Brenda needs something," he said. "And everything is out of place at home."

Many people have offered to help Campos Gomez. He has received assistance with medical bills and offers of therapy. An account continues to receive donations.

But Campos Gomez struggles to trust people or accept their help.

"It seems like people are good, when you don't know their intentions," he said.

Campos Gomez said he would find out this week whether immigration officials will allow his mother, who is 64 and living in Mexico, to enter the country to help him and the children.

Although challenges remain, he has hope for himself and his children, including his youngest.

"I'm pretty sure he's going to be pretty happy in his life," Campos Gomez said, rocking his infant son.