Photo: Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock
They spent years raising a child that wasn't theirs.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Feb 07, 2023
In a story of twists and turns and unexpected family dynamics, one couple went through a roller coaster of emotions after raising their baby for five years and discovering something that they hadn’t known about their child before.
The father of the child believed that he wasn’t truly the father of his wife’s baby, so he opted to take a paternity test in order to find out the truth.
When his paternity test failed, his wife insisted that she had never cheated on him, despite his disbelief, so she decided to take a maternity test of her own.
Both the father’s paternity test and the mother’s maternity test failed, so they decided to sue the hospital.
After learning about the story via a now-private Instagram account, Twitter user Saint Zoe (@Jupinapapi3) shared the tale of trials and tribulations on the bird app where nearly 4 million people were able to read it.
Since neither parent was the real parent, they figured that the hospital had switched their baby with someone else’s and decided to sue them.
“Imagine raising a baby for 5 years but now you kinda wanna get your actual baby but now don’t wanna give up this one either,” Zoe tweeted.
Everyone in the replies was stunned, shocked that a mistake like that could even occur at such a vital moment for parents — especially a mother who had just given birth.
“Howwww? The babies are tagged as soon as they are born and so are their bassinets,” one user asked.
Mothers on the app chimed in with their experiences, with some claiming that their baby never left their sight after they had finished giving birth.
Other mothers shared that it might have been totally possible, as they had spent hours after their birth not seeing their baby until their anesthesia and drugs wore off.
In an update, the parents discovered the fate of their biological child and the outcome of their lawsuit.
“They found their biological daughter,” wrote the woman who provided the update in the comments section of an Instagram post. “She was in foster care.”
Allegedly, the parents that they had swapped their biological child with were not “the best of parents” and had been under investigation by Child Protective Services.
“As crazy as it sounds, they have to now adopt their biological child (which they are in the process of doing),” they continued. “They are also keeping the nonbiological child as well.”
As for the lawsuit, the hospital settled and the couple received nearly 2 million dollars, which neither she nor their lawyer thought was enough, “but they just wanted the whole ordeal over with.”
“The husband and wife are staying together and he apologized to her for ever doubting her,” she continued. “They have not and will not go public with their true identities and they are moving away from their current town.”
Fortunately, it seems like they have been able to reunite with their biological daughter so long as the adoption papers got through, but it was one hell of an ordeal to go through for as long as they did.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.