FEDERAL WAY, Wash. - Police say a woman who says she is the mother of a baby abandoned at a Federal Way church has turned herself in.

KGW

Surveillance video at Steel Lake Presbyterian Church at 1829 S 308 Street showed a teenager or young woman dropping off the child just after 2 a.m. Sunday, wrapped in a beach towel in 49-degree weather.

The child was discovered five hours later by JC Gumm, who had arrived about half an hour early for her praise team band practice.

She says when she got to the church about 7:50 a.m. Sunday, she sat down on a bench in front, but then heard some sounds coming from a towel lying on the ground by the door.

When she went to check, she discovered the baby inside it.

"My first reaction was like, this baby needs help. So I called 911 and I picked her up and was just holding her like this until the paramedics come. And I was like alright, I'm right here," she said.

The baby girl was taken to the hospital, where physicians determined that she was no more than 12 hours old.

The baby is in fair condition.

"She did suffer the effects of being in the cold for almost five hours," said Cathy Schrock of Federal Way Police.

The mother could face felony abandonment charges. While it's legal to leave a baby at an emergency room, hospital or fire department that is open and has qualified staff to provide care, it's not legal to leave a newborn child at a church or other public location.

"It could very well have been an honest mistake, however, looking at it from the criminal perspective, you left this child, basically abandoned and exposed to the elements and any other things that may have occurred," said Schrock.