One of the biggest human mistakes and one of the biggest concerns of some of our mothers is that they give you, by mistake, a baby that is not yours.
My mother always told me: "When you have a child, never separate from your baby, sometimes they change them." I imagine that this concern came from the knowledge of some similar case and I always thought that, today, it was very unlikely, if not impossible, that something like this happened.
However, it has happened in Brazil, where two families have been living for more than a year with changed children. At the moment the truth was known, an incredible ethical and moral dilemma appeared, since a mother wanted to recover her biological baby, but the other did not want to separate from the baby she had raised Until now.
The two couples had a child the same day in the same hospital. It is not known how, each family took a wrong baby home until one day, one of the parents, began to suspect.
The father was dark skinned and his son had a very light complexion. This caused the father to question his true fatherhood to the point that the couple's arguments and suspicions of infidelity ended the marriage.
The woman, destroyed by suspicion and sure she was faithful, decided to do the DNA tests to prove the truth to the father. The result was surprising: the son was not of his father, but neither was of his mother.
Following that moment they began to investigate and concluded, together with the hospital, that on the day the babies were born there was an unfortunate event, the exchange of babies between two couples.
New DNA tests eventually proved who each baby was from and, in the presence of a judge, the babies were exchanged. Birth certificates were canceled and parents were offered the possibility to change their children's name.
In the case of children of little more than a year it is logical to think that the change was very hard, especially for them. One of the children spent the first night crying to such an extent that his mother had to call the other mother to come to breastfeed her.
The truth is that it is amazing news as well as unfortunate. A year is a long time in the life of a baby and a long time in the life of some parents and suddenly discover that your child, the one you adore and for whom you go out of your way, is not yours should produce a tremendous emotional shock. Moreover, it is hard for me to put myself in the place of these parents, because just thinking about it my soul shrinks (if that is possible).
It is logical to think then that the dilemma faced by these couples was of historical proportions. One of the mothers, Keila Fagundes, 23, was opposed to returning the child she had raised as her own, but the other mother, Elaine Gomes, 28, decided that the change should take place.
Surely you will be trying to create a firm decision if something like this happens to you. Maybe you can do it. I'm not able. I cannot say what I would choose, because for me both options are logical.
Perhaps the most bearable posture, especially for children, would be the one in which Each mother stays with her biological child, but maintaining regular contact with the other child.
Naturally, a team of psychologists will support mothers during the first months. The families, meanwhile, have decided to denounce the hospital, since it is not the first time that a similar case has happened in that hospital.
