It turns out that the baby my ex-girlfriend delivered while I was in the delivery room wasn't mine. I was 15 and she was 16. I had always thought that the child was mine and that it was time for me to grow up. As a 15-year-old, I attended all the lessons, completed the required reading, and worked every evening and on the weekends to save as much money as I could. I had someone hurry me to the ER as soon as I finally received the call that she was in labor. Fortunately for her, it only lasted for approximately six hours, but there was a problem. The umbilical cord was still wrapped around the baby's neck when it was delivered. Although the doctor reassured us everything would be fine, the nurses were prepared for the worst. The newborn was a pale shade of purple as it emerged. The nurses grabbed the baby right away and put the smallest mask they had on it, I suppose to assist it to breathe. I was in too much of a panic to ask many questions. I stayed in the room with my ex when they informed us that they had to keep the baby on guard throughout the night. The baby was back in our room the following evening, and everything appeared to be fine.
The same nurse from the previous night entered the room while the ex was fast asleep and motioned for me to go. She informed me that she had to deliver some unfavorable news to me at the risk of losing her job. While it wasn't immediately obvious that the child was mixed, she said that he or she was not mine and that over the next weeks, it would become clear. There was a good chance it wasn't mine because we were both white. Bringing on a range of feelings, and I quickly call my ex to ask for some clarification. She was hoping it was mine because it worked better for her, I later learned, even though she was aware of the odds. She apparently didn't want to deal with her father's old-school, conservative ways. After I left the hospital to gather my thoughts, I received child support paperwork a few weeks later. I was found to be that child's father to a very small extent, 0.0%, after one DNA test and roughly six weeks. I hope that the nurse's life is fantastic wherever she is right now. She spared me a lot of extra stress, even though I understood that she wasn't intended to become involved in the personal side of things. Story Credit: Reddit/Nope_Thats_Not_Me
This is a tale my brother told me about a coworker he once had. A friend of my brother's from work who is originally from Eastern Europe immigrated to the US many years ago to build a family. A wonderful girl that one of his sons met and planned to marry ended up becoming pregnant before they could plan their wedding. Whatever the case, the new baby had the entire family thrilled. They held a brief ceremony soon before the baby was born, and the expectant father was overjoyed. When the baby was delivered, he was nearly 50 shades darker than either of his parents, and the new father went completely insane. In his distraught wrath, he rejected the child, accused his new wife of cheating on him, and stormed out of the delivery room, leaving the new mother all by herself and her mountain of guilt. After going home to visit his family, this individual continued his vile tirade. The fact that the baby didn't resemble him led him to declare to his family that his new wife had cheated on him. The family was astonished because they couldn't believe that this nice young person would harm their son in that way. There was nothing except utter pain and disgrace.
Little tiny grandma chirped up from a dark corner of the room and began to tell a tale. She reportedly had a wonderful summer romance with a French soldier in her prime amid some conflict, a black soldier in France. Due to the circumstances, she had to keep the child after getting pregnant and hoped that her relatives wouldn't beat her before she could leave it somewhere. After becoming knocked up, she met her husband soon after, and everything went on as if she were his child. Surprise, surprise, the tiny thing emerged as white as snow. She exhaled a sigh of relief since that would be the most straightforward lie she had ever spoken. As a result, the poor man's super-melanin gene decided to manifest itself in his adorable son after he had an affair with his wife. Thank goodness his entire family accompanied him to the hospital. The husband and wife were reunited because the grandmother had a picture of her old boyfriend as identification. Story Credit: Reddit/HumsWhileHePees
My husband had a vasectomy after having our second child, and I have never cheated on him. One year later, I found out I was pregnant (and then subsequently lost the pregnancy). I started to panic even though I knew I hadn't done anything wrong and was worried that everyone would believe I had. In reality, my husband never had the sperm count checked because he was too ashamed to perform the entire cup procedure at his doctor's office.
He required additional "treatment" because he still had a count. It was the most terrifying day of my life. Story Credit: Reddit/ElleighJae
It's quite likely that my fiancé's father is not his biological father. His mother was a truly horrible person who made no effort to conceal the fact that she was an adulterer. However, his dad raised him from the moment he was born, and when his mother decided she no longer wanted him four years later, she simply delivered him to his "dad" and rode away. Before learning that his father's sperm count was too low ever to father children, his dad eventually remarried (they ended up adopting many years later).
When my fiancé was 13 years old, he sat him down and told him the truth. The father said that it was entirely up to him whether or not to take a test. That was the end of that after my fiancé broke down in tears and said he only wanted him to be his dad. Story Credit: Reddit
I know a woman who was carrying the child of her boyfriend's best friend. A week before she gave birth, he learned there was a chance. Once the child was born, I went up to see her, and there was no doubt that he looked just like the friend. When I told her boyfriend the news, he was inconsolable. His parents were equally devastated and furious. They had purchased the girl a $500 car seat and stroller set, along with everything else she required. She resisted returning anything.
After giving birth to their child, she instantly rekindled her connection with the friend, and ten years later, they are still together. But there's a nasty twist. You see, the best friend and the guy lived next door to one another. After leaving the hospital, she moved into her friend's home, where her ex-boyfriend and his family had to visit them pretty much every day while raising a child they had thought was his throughout the whole pregnancy. Even the thought escapes me. Story Credit: Reddit/maybebat
My vasectomy was done. The doctor informed me about another patient he had while we were conversing. This man, who had three children, came in for the snip-snip after deciding that he and his wife were done having babies. The physician opened his sack. and discovered nothing to cut.
This man was incapable of having children from the moment of his birth. The poor doctor had to describe what had occurred to him. Imagine learning that in that manner. Story Credit: Reddit/timing
Before I was a nurse, I was a lab technician. The mother was still in the operating room after the cesarean, and we had a set of twins who came very early in the NICU. The lady was taken over to Baby A's isolette as I was drawing Baby B's blood. " Oh, thank God you're not Black", she sobbed as she stated this. "The past seven months, I had been so nervous." Baby newborns are extremely pink when they are first born, often bordering on crimson. So even if a baby has some Black ancestry, their skin may not yet be quite dark. But when I saw the babies, I realized the reality. They were going to be Black; that much was clear.
The way your face is shaped, the feel of your hair... Additionally, Baby B exhibited a prominent Mongolian spot, which is typically seen in babies of African American descent. My NICU coworker informed me a few weeks later that the children were now on a "no-info status," which denoted a security alert. We were unable to discuss them in detail, use their names, etc. She claimed that there was a major argument because the mother's husband, a white man, accused her of cheating on him after noticing that the infants were half-Black. When the biological father, a Black man, entered, he was unaware that she was even married. Poor little ones. Story Credit: Reddit
I was a labor and delivery nurse. One day, a very young mother and her parents showed up at our door. The parents appeared stuffy, and the girl was just 12 years old. They incessantly criticized her, saying her she ought to have had an abortion and that she was too young to have children. While she was mostly silent, her mother was always crying for her. I got a call from a very young boy who claimed to be her boyfriend when she was giving birth. He was not allowed to visit the hospital by her father. I said that while I couldn't divulge information, he could speak with her later. She showed me a picture of him after I entered and informed her that he had called. The youngest of the litter, he was white with straight red hair and a pimply face. Her physical education instructor came over to see how she was about an hour later, which I found strange. As you may imagine, there weren't many teachers who checked on the children. He was very different from the boyfriend: tall, quite strong, with a lovely smile and rich, chocolate-brown complexion. She was then accompanied to the delivery room by her father. Once more odd, but ok. She pushed harder and cried louder. She repeatedly said, "Sorry,, Daddy," in between.
Finally, a gorgeous baby boy in chocolate-brown slid out. I feared her father would pass out on the floor of my delivery room. I said the customary "It's a boy!" and kept quiet after that. After giving him to a nursery nurse, I went to get dad a chair. The youngster continued to say, "I'm sorry, Daddy," over and over. Now frowning, her mother visited to see the infant. She took one look, then began pleading with God for mercy. A little while afterwards, I sent her father home with instructions to respond at home. Before I departed, I scheduled a meeting for our counselor with him. After speaking with the kid, she acknowledged that she had been receiving "special treatment" from her gym teacher. She responded that she had merely kissed the boyfriend but had stayed after school to be with her gym teacher when I explained intimacy to her. I had a legal obligation to report child abuse, so I did. Her baby was placed for adoption two weeks later, when her world had been completely destroyed. I hope the best for her. This occurred in 1989. Story Credit: Reddit/WitchyPuddin
My wife and I are both half-Mexicans with brown skin and black hair, yet our mothers are both pure-white blondes with blue and green eyes. All of this is to imply that while we were sort of aware that our baby would be a genetic gamble, the nurse who was assisting in the delivery was unaware of this. She phoned for assistance at one point after becoming rather uneasy. Another nurse entered the room, possibly one with more experience. She gave me a nod before approaching me. As she approached and stuttered through some queries, I assumed the baby had a problem.
Finally, she inquired as to whether one of us had grown up blonde. I asserted that I am as blonde as they come and that both of the baby's grandparents are. She felt a rush of relief wash over her, and she dragged me over to this baby's blooming blonde head. Funny how he resembled me exactly but with whiter complexion. My wife often responds to embarrassing questions regarding his ancestry by saying, "Yeah, we're not sure if he's mine." People who nod for a brief while before saying, "Wait, what?" are amusing to watch. Story Credit: Reddit/PM__YOUR__GOOD_NEWS
My college friend's fiancee was expecting a child. They were the "ideal pair". When their careers first began, everything was peaches and rainbows for them both. Rewind to the birth room; they were there, and a very black baby emerged. She was a blonde Texas girl with blue eyes, and he was a quite pale redhead. He checked on everyone, waited for her parents to show up, and then walked out silently.
While she was in the hospital, he removed all of his belongings from the house and stopped speaking to her. In the coldest thing I've ever witnessed, they simply walked out of their lives. They dated for nine years before he abruptly ended things. She made several attempts to get in touch with him at work, but he soon climbed up the corporate ladder and eventually landed a job in another city. He once confided in me that he found comfort in the knowledge that her family had previously spent roughly $10,000 on a wedding that never took place. Story Credit: Reddit/tacoscholar
I used to work with a guy whose wife was pregnant. Near the delivery time, everyone at our place of business had a big party with gifts, money, etc. When the big day arrived, her water broke, and they got in the car to go to the hospital. She broke the news to him in a horrific way. She told him the baby was not his and that the kid would be of another race. She also requested that he just drop her off at the hospital and then leave. He took a few days off work, found a new apartment, moved out, filed for divorce, etc. He called into work and told someone what happened, so the news spread pretty fast. All of the congratulations cards were cleaned up and thrown away. Everyone was very sensitive to his pain. Except, somehow—I don’t know how—I did not get the news.
So on his first day back, I walked into the office he shared with six other guys and said, “Hey hey, Daddio, how’s fatherhood so far? Getting any sleep? Got some pictures? Let’s see the little tyke!” He slowly lifted his head to look at me with a painful gaze. The room was completely silent. One of his workmates stood up, grabbed my arm, and walked me out of the room, shushing me. “What happened, “ I asked, “Did it pass? What’s the problem?” When he told me everything, I about expired myself. I still feel bad for the dude and it’s been 30 years. Story Credit: Reddit/BlueGillMan
I used to work in the newborn nursery at a hospital. We get the babies right from delivery, clean them up, footprint them, check their vitals, etc. Dads usually came in with the newborns. So one day, this dad came in with this baby. The dad was white, the mom was white, and the baby was very obviously not white. The dad was very quiet standing next to the baby, watching us clean it up.
He said quietly, “I don’t think this is my baby”. You could tell he was absolutely devastated. We advised him not to sign the birth certificate until he was sure. Not sure what happened after we sent the baby back out to the mom, but I felt awful for the guy. Story Credit: Reddit/rootberryfloat
This happened with my husband’s parents. This was 40+ years ago when they took the baby away to be all cleaned up. My husband’s dad looked at the baby and said, “That is not my son!” The nurse says: “Oh, yes it is. Sometimes they just look different after they’re cleaned up”. But he still asserted, “No!
That is definitely not my son!” Then, down the hall, they heard another parent say to his partner, “WHAT THE HECK, THIS BABY IS WHITE! YOU CHEATED ON ME?!” The nurse got wide-eyed and said, “Let me go check on that” and scooped up the baby. Turns out, they accidentally switched the babies. It’s a great story, but wow…Can you imagine if they just hadn’t noticed?! Story Credit: Reddit/Found-potential
A friend of mine got pregnant in high school. She claimed it was our local doctor’s son’s kid, so he agreed to deliver his grandchild for free.
Well, when the child was delivered, it was obviously half African-American, and the doctor’s son and the girl were both white. I think he still delivered it for free, as he was relieved his 14-year-old son wasn’t a dad. Story Credit: Reddit/Dramaqueen_069
Labor and delivery nurse here. Black babies are usually a lot lighter at birth. Not everyone is aware of this, so I’ve had a few dramatic deliveries where the father looks at the baby and accuses the mom of cheating because the baby isn’t as dark. There’s always a lot of drama, but if the father is accusing the mother of cheating right after the delivery of their child, then their relationship dynamic might not be the best, to begin with.
Story Credit: Reddit/tina_bean02
I work in anesthesia. One of my colleagues had someone deliver a baby with “Steve’s Lunchbox” tattooed above the, er, “birth canal”. Not really thinking, the OB-GYN said to the father after the delivery: “Congratulations, Steve”. The guy replied that his name was indeed not Steve.
I think the doctor felt like a bit of a fool after that one. Story Credit: Reddit/passing_gas
I worked in the army hospital in Fort Lewis. A woman came in for belly pain and we found out that she was 10 weeks pregnant. The husband at her bedside started laughing, then he grabbed his coat and left the room. When he explained the situation to us, everything made sense—he said he had been in Afghanistan until three weeks prior.
He looked back and her and just said, “Well, that’s that, Brittany”. I always liked how classily he left her while she just silently stared off into space. Story Credit: Reddit/Mrjrfrankburns
When I was born, the Indian doctor told my very, very white parents: “Oh, she looks like an ethnic baby!” It became a funny story years later, but I imagine that it wasn’t so funny when my brunette mother had to explain to my blonde dad that yes, the baby with a full head of long, jet-black hair was actually his child. I always wondered if my dad had some doubts about me during the first few months of my life before my hair turned blonde.
Story Credit: Reddit/PretentiousPiehole
I’m a nurse in a Level 4 neonatal ICU. We service the sickest of the sick from our state and the surrounding states, so we see it all. One time, we had a baby that was sick as snot. Lo and behold, we discovered its blood, spinal fluid, etc. was completely septic with herpes. In most babies, we avoid this by treating herpes while the mom is pregnant. In this case, however, the mom didn’t even know she was a carrier.
So where did it come from? This is the awkward and sickening moment when everyone in the room learned the truth. Turns out, the father had an affair and contracted the virus from his lover. So yeah, while the woman’s baby was on the verge of passing, she also found out her husband had been cheating on her. His cheatin’ heart is the reason their baby was sick. Story Credit: Reddit/ravenousbutterfly
My best friend was dating a girl and he knocked her up. They got engaged, then planned to get married right after the baby was born. There were about 10 of us in the waiting room waiting for her to crank out the baby. It was essentially her parents, some of her friends, and some of ours. After we were sitting there for about two hours, he walked out with a smirk on his face. He said, “Let’s go”. We all thought something horrible had happened.
Her friends asked him how the baby was, and he said, “Fine, but Black”. He motioned for us to go, so we followed him. In the parking garage, he told us to follow him to his apartment, then he sent me a text asking if I could put him up for a while. We literally moved him out of his apartment and into my spare bedroom in like an hour, tops. Her parents didn’t know who to be mad at. The confusion on their faces when he told them the baby was Black was priceless. Story Credit: Reddit/Goyteamsix
I am a nurse working in labor and delivery. Most of the time, if the mom thinks the baby may not be her boyfriend’s or husband’s, they will just have their friend, sister, mom, or whoever is with them there for the delivery and have the dad come to the hospital room after they’ve seen the baby. There are no guarantees because babies can change a lot over a couple of weeks. Many African American babies have very light skin when they are born and it eventually gets darker. I have had a patient’s husband get upset about the baby being too light (they were both Black) until his mom smacked him and told him that’s what he looked like when he was born. Recently, I had something interesting happen that was along the same lines. This girl came to the hospital in labor with her boyfriend, sister, and friend. The boyfriend didn’t seem too engaged during the process, but that was not uncommon. The baby was born and is fine, and the sister sent the dad to get some stuff. Keep in mind: all of the people involved were Hispanic and only spoke Spanish. My Spanish just so happened to be pretty decent. As soon as the dad left, the sister was like, “I have a question for you” and then proceeded to say something I couldn’t understand at all. I asked her to clarify, but I was just not getting it, so I offered to go get the translator.
She was like, “No! I don’t want it to be official”. She then whipped out her phone and through Google translate asked me, “How can we get a paternity test in the hospital?” I then had to explain that we really didn’t do that, but she could get one at CVS. They told me that the baby didn’t look like the couple’s other child and that it might be someone else’s, but they want to check before telling him. I just apologized and told them how they could get a DNA test at CVS. This wasn’t the first time I’d been asked about paternity testing; I just had no idea how to say it in Spanish. Some hospitals used to offer paternity testing, but many no longer do because it is not usually seen as medically necessary. Also, they usually aren’t covered by Medicaid or insurance, so the hospital ends up eating the cost. You don’t know anyone else’s life circumstances, so it is best to reserve judgment about the choices they have made because not every situation is cut and dry. Plenty of biological fathers leave and do not support their children, and women are not all lying villains. Life is very gray, just treat people with respect and compassion. Story Credit: Reddit/companionquandary
My professor was a labor and delivery nurse, and she once saw a man running between two delivery rooms. See, both the women he had impregnated went into labor and gave birth on the same day. Supposedly, the one he was married to was angry because the woman he cheated on her with was impregnated after the wife, but had her kid 10 minutes before her. Labor and delivery is apparently the most drama-filled section of hospitals.
My significant other is planning to be a nurse and he’s going to work in labor and delivery as well as neonatal this year. I’m excited to hear all the dramatic stories. Story Credit: Reddit/ThrowDiscoAway
My grandmother was a nurse back in her day. Once, she was assisting with delivering a baby, and the ostensible father commented that the child looked “good for a premature baby.” Without thinking, my blunt, upfront grandmother told the truth sharply: “That baby is not premature”. So I guess I know where I get my social obliviousness from now.
Story Credit: Reddit/tornado28
I have to give my friend credit for doing something I don’t think I could ever do. After being married for years and having a three- and one-year-old with his wife, he discovered that she had been cheating on him. Multiple times, and with multiple men. Anyway, when he found that there was the chance that neither of the kids was his, he bought two paternity tests. He brought them home, but then the horrible conclusion hit him. He was prepared if they were his.
He was prepared if they weren’t. He had NO freaking idea what he would do if one was and one wasn’t. So he threw the tests away. They divorced, she keeps seeing people for short times, and he is now remarried to a fantastic person. Story Credit: Reddit/KMApok
I had a paternity test done on my son when he was about seven months old. The baby momma constantly told me he wasn’t mine, but then came after me for child support. So I got the test done, and he was mine. When my kid was 11 months old, DHS did a random substance test on her and she failed. I then started a two-year battle in juvenile court to not allow the state to “reunify” my child with the mother. I finally got the juvenile court to release my case to the district court, where we fought for actual custody. During our district court battle, she took my son for a visit, and I got a call from the authorities in a city an hour away that she had been detained in a domestic dispute with her boyfriend at a hotel. They searched her and found all sorts of paraphernalia. That was the last time she had him unsupervised. We went about two years of her barely calling, seeing him once a month for 10 to 20 minutes, until she finally got detained on “attempt to distribute”.
She spent three years behind bars and has been out about eight months now. She appears to be clean, and just gave me an extra $100 for child support yesterday. So we’re giving her a shot, but she will remain on supervised visits for a long time. The whole fiasco has been such a blur; it’s hard to remember exactly what, when, or where it happened, especially after years of really not having to deal with her. At the time, it was horrific. She punched me a couple of times, lied under oath, sent me threats, inappropriate photos of her with other men, the list goes on and on. I’ve really tried to put a lot of it behind me, and forget about as much of it as I can so she can at least be somewhat a part of my kid’s life because that’s what HE wants. I just watch her like a hawk now. Story Credit: Reddit
A distant cousin of mine definitely has children that don’t belong to the father…My cousin was adopted as an infant. She struggled with some developmental issues and has a low IQ compared to most, but can still live on her own with little to no issues. She eventually married a dark-skinned Latino guy several years ago, and they had a son together who has dark hair, dark skin, and dark eyes. He is easily identified as their son. The real trouble happened years later. Her husband, who we’ll call Javier, has some IQ issues of his own. He’s just a little slow when it comes to tasks and reasoning. Anyway, Javier was in the army and got deployed internationally for about six months.
When he came home, his wife was four months pregnant…you do the math. He somehow still believes the baby is his own, even after it was born with pale skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. If that wasn’t bad enough, it happened AGAIN two years later with another baby—the same blonde hair and blue eyes. Everyone knows she slept with a different man (it was actually her high school boyfriend), but Javier still thinks the children are his. It’s kind of sad, but at this point, there’s not much we can do. He has raised the kids as his own. Story Credit: Reddit/brickwallwaterfall
A good friend of mine was out of the country on an emergency task and I ended up bringing his wife to the ER. We are very close, and all of us went to high school together. I was in the delivery room as she didn’t want to be without anyone there. The baby came out…straight-up Asian. I knew and the doctor knew. I just walked out of the room right then and there. I had no idea his wife was being unfaithful. All I could hear was her wailing, saying her marriage was over. The nurses quickly picked up on why she was crying. Meanwhile, I called him and told him the news. He explained to his work that a true emergency was at home, so they chartered him a flight. He filed for divorce right then and there.
Only, it got so much worse. During the divorce, it came out that out of their three kids, none of them were my friend’s kids. It didn’t just mess him up, it messed the kids up as well because they knew him as “daddy”. The court tried to make my friend pay child support for those kids that weren’t his because “they became accustomed” to him as their father. They claimed he was abandoning them when he had zero biological attachment. Family courts are so biased against men. My friend spent a fortune fighting it out of principle and eventually won. It emotionally ruined him and now he doesn’t trust women. He won’t go on dates or anything because of it. I can’t say I blame him because that is beyond messed up. Story Credit: Reddit
My brother’s friend was in the army and had a short-and-sweet wedding with a woman he had been dating for a few months. She’s white American and he’s white Hispanic, and the baby came out Black. Until the paternity results came in, she was adamant that the baby was his. She even went to the extent of claiming he was a bad father because he wouldn’t claim “his” child.
The results came back and revealed she was a liar. And she thought she was going to stay with him for that army money. Story Credit: Reddit/lolalaughed
A co-worker’s aunt just found out her dad wasn’t actually her biological dad. She was really big into genealogy and had mapped out her family tree as far as she could go. She also took one of those ancestry DNA tests about two months ago, and her father’s side didn’t line up with what she was expecting. In fact, she didn’t recognize a single name that she was matched with paternally. She casually asked her dad if he knew any of the names, and he recognized the surname of the maintenance man at the apartment complex where he and his wife lived shortly after they had gotten married.
He claimed he was a lousy repairman who always flirted with his wife, etc. The wife had passed a few years ago, so she decided to not tell her dad the news or why she knew those names. Story Credit: Reddit/Kjwells94
I was blood typing a newborn once. The mom was an O+, and the baby was AB+… which is more or less not possible. I immediately panicked, because I thought they had mixed up the babies. “Someone has the wrong baby; we’re gonna get sued; they’re gonna have to give genetic tests the entire nursery; what if they subpoena me for being the idiot who discovered the problem?” All of those thoughts raced through my mind. After repeating the test three times and getting the same results, I called the floor and told them that they’d either drawn the wrong baby’s blood, or they’d switched babies because the mom couldn’t be the baby’s mother.
Nope, it was a donor egg. The redraw matched fine, and everyone was where they were supposed to be. Oh God, my heart, though!