31 January 2024 , 13:09
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Although incredibly rare these days, baby swapping at birth is a serious issue that causes heartbreaking impacts on families. It is believed that globally, around 28,000 babies per year are switched at birth due to errors or negligence in hospitals but these are rectified quickly.
One mother has confessed that she believes her son may have swapped at birth and is unsure of how to proceed. Admitting that she’s had these feelings ever since he was born, it’s only recently that she’s considered getting a DNA test.
Sharing her agony on social media, she explained that there had been a lot of complications during the birth of her son, and nurses whisked him away to help before she got a good look. She wrote: “They brought him back to us finally and it's so painful to admit but I looked at him and crystal clear thought, ‘whose child is this?’. That thought? I've told no one ever.
“I felt horribly guilty for that flash of a thought but I couldn't let it go. I was groggy and brainless from everything but still, it sliced through my mind. They tucked a super chubby, super ruddy, super lovable, and squeezable baby into my arms. But he looked nothing like any of my other kids when they were born.
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“They were all fair-skinned, slim, and long. He was super pudgy, darker-skinned, and adorable but I had a major brain disconnect when they handed him to me. Fast forward many, many years. He has no familial traits. None of my children look anything alike but you can trace similarities between them.
“But I can't find any similarities between his demeanor or physical structure and the rest of the entire extended family. Not eyes, not lips, not smile, not hands, not feet, not personality or anything else. Obviously, this definitely happens to families but I've always wondered. And I love him insanely.”
The mum then revealed that her son, now an adult, has been diagnosed with a “heartbreaking disease” something that should have shown up somewhere else in the family.
She continued: “So now I can't help wondering if he's not mine and whether I should secretly try to get a DNA test to see if he might be someone else's child to see if we can learn about other possible health issues. But I don't really know what I'd do with the information.
“What happens if I learn he's not mine? Do I just try to get the family history? Or do I break? Do I tell him? Do I tell the family? Do I go after the hospital? Do I f**k up his life? In my state of overload, I'm guessing I'd probably unwittingly go after the hospital at the least even though I kid myself I'm a good person.
“I know myself well enough to know I'd pick up the phone immediately but I hope I'd call just one person I could trust instead of drama dumping everywhere. I hope. And screw telling his dad who would treat him like he was defective. There's a reason he's an ex.”
The heartbreaking Reddit post was met with an outpouring of support for the distressed woman. One person wrote: “This is not just about wanting to know anymore, this is about very serious health reasons. But maybe don't tell anyone about it until you get the result? And if it turns out that it was all in your head and he is your child, I wouldn't mention it to anyone but your therapist.
“If you should find out this way that your baby was swapped, your next step needs to be a very hard conversation with your son, with lots of love and reassurance. Then you contact a family law specialist and take their advice. Then you very probably sue the hospital in the hopes of forcing them to reveal the other family. Where your bio child was mistakenly placed.”