CALGARY, Alberta -- A Canadian mother was charged with attempted murder after allegedly discarding her newborn baby in a dumpster, but the child was rescued by his unsuspecting father.

Meredith Katharine Borowiec, 30, was charged with attempted murder this week, after allegedly giving birth in secret in the bedroom of her Calgary apartment last fall and then throwing the child out with the trash.

The infant survived the ordeal, and his cries alerted a female passerby, who called out for help, the Calgary Herald reported Friday.

In a bizarre twist, the man who came to assist the rescue was, unbeknown to him, the father of the baby.

He helped remove the boy from the dumpster, not knowing that his girlfriend had been hiding a pregnancy.

Borowiec was also charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm, child abandonment and failure to provide the necessities of life for a child under 16, police said Thursday.

Officials were still trying to determine whether Borowiec could have other children, after people who claimed to know her contacted police over the past year to say the boy was not her first child.

"We're looking into those possibilities," Acting Staff Sergeant Dan Link said.

The baby boy is no longer with the family and was said by police to be healthy. Borowiec was due to appear in court next week.