When children are born, parents often say that they can immediately see the resemblance in their infant's face.
Even if they are just a bald, wrinkled mass, parents and grandparents are nonetheless convinced that they see their eyes, nose or smile in their newborn.
Of course, sometimes it's not the resemblance which is easiest to notice, but the lack of it.
Leading fathers in the delivery room to lose their joy almost instantly, wondering if they are, in fact, the father of the child in their wife's arms.
A question to which the answer is sometimes abundantly clear.
Redditor NoTalentAzKlown was curious to hear from doctors and nurses who witnessed these awkward, sometimes heartbreaking situations, leading them to ask:
"Doctors and nurses of Reddit who have delivered babies to mothers who clearly cheated on their husbands, what was that like?"
Did She Really Not Notice The Umbilical Cord?
"We had a very sweet blond haired blue eyed mom and dad along with their entire extended family in the room for a delivery one busy afternoon at work."
"Think aunts, Uncles, cousins, Grandma and Grandpa too."
"The baby is born and as the doctor places her on the mom’s chest the first words out of her mouth are 'that’s not my baby! That’s not my baby!'"
"The baby in question, still attached at the umbilical cord, has beautiful dark curly black hair, and dark skin."
"The nurse looks at her and tells her that this is definitely her baby because 'she’s still attached to you' and she, not so quietly, tells the nurse 'There’s no way, I never slept with a black man! It’s not mine!'."
"The 'father' is standing there silent, not sure what to do."
"A long awkward silence fills the room."
"We clean her and baby up as cheerfully as we can."
"We see the extended family filter out of the room and the 'father' leave to get a cigarette."
"About ten minutes later a tall black guy walks up to our front desk asking how to get to the patient in question’s room."- chasesurf
How Many Possibilities Were There?
"I was assisting at a Caesarian when I was a junior doctor."
"The woman’s dark skinned partner had been in prison 9 months or so."
"I took the baby immediately upon delivery and announced cheerily 'it’s a boy!'
"Her first words were 'Is it black?'"
"Luckily the baby was a mocha color that could have gone either way, and I told her in a mildly confused manner 'Ahhh, it could be?'"- non_sexual_user_name
At Least They Can Laugh About It!
"Okay I am a nurse but this isn’t a story about a birth I witnessed, it was my own birth."
"And although my mother definitely didn’t cheat, all the midwives were convinced she had."
"And yeah it’ll be buried but I think it’s a funny story so I’m going to share."
"For background: my mother (J) is white, and had got married young to another white guy (D), actually forced to by my grandparents who were horrified she was living in sin."
"Their relationship petered out and they separated but remained very good friends."
"Then she met my father (A), a black man, and began a relationship with him."
"Mum was still married at the time, neither her nor her husband were in a hurry to get divorced, and he became good friends with Mums new partner (my dad)."
"Mum fell pregnant with me."
"Time moves along."
"She goes into labour and needs to head up to the hospital."
"Dad was working and couldn’t make it home in time to get her there, so still being good friends with the husband, she rings him and he comes around to drive her to hospital and decides to hang out until I’m born."
"After an hour or so dad arrives."
"He was freaking out a bit so his best friend (H, also a black guy) drove him because dad didn’t trust himself."
"They arrive at the hospital right as mum is ready to deliver."
"The midwives come out to the waiting room to grab the 'husband' to be there when baby is born."
"They knew that mum’s actual husband (D) had driven her there so assumed that he was the father of the baby."
"Went and grabbed him and tried to drag him into the delivery room."
"He freaked out and yelled 'No no, I’m not the father, I’m just the husband! The father is Aboriginal!'"
"Dad and H pulled up into the car park as this is happening, and dad leaps out of the car."
"Decides he needs to have a quick smoke to settle his nerves before he goes in."
"His best friend H doesn’t smoke, cigarettes but does smoke weed and is pretty stoned, so he walks in ahead."
"Just then the midwives come running back to the waiting room to grab the actual father, and see the only black guy in there."
"Obviously him right?"
"So they take him and suit him up to bring him down to delivery."
"Being pretty stoned, H doesn’t question this and just goes along with it."
"The midwives reach the delivery room and shove him inside."
"Mum, legs in stirrups and at the pushing stage goes absolutely ballistic. 'NOT THAT BLACK GUY, HES NOT THE FATHER, GO GET THE OTHER ONE."
"The midwives hustle H out and return him to the waiting room to wait with D. A (my dad) has come inside by now and the midwives marched up to him and said something like 'I hope you’re the father this time otherwise I’m going to just give up and she can birth alone'.”
"So that’s the story about how the hospital went through three different men before they finally got to my actual father."-Trin20k
Denial Only Grows Over Time...
"Consulted a couple who were expecting a baby and were confused about how she had Chlamydia (again)."
"Turns out they both had Chlamydia, both got treated and continued doing their thing."
"She could not get her head round how she had it again if he was the only guy she had slept with."
"He just looked very sheepish as I tried to subtly explain maybe he had caught it from elsewhere and passed it on."
"Took a long time for the penny to drop."
"One of those couples where you realize the kid won't get help with their science homework from their parents."- paramatt999
Oh, Dear...
"Had two women give birth a few days apart on my floor."
"Turns out they actually had the same baby daddy."
"The father of the two newborns got both patients pregnant around the same time."
"It was an interesting day for the social worker!"- LaBestiadeGavaudan
A Very Close Friendship Indeed...
"In high school my gym teacher was married to the biology teacher, who was also really good friends with my math teacher."
"Always saw them chatting and walking together."
"Well the bio teacher got pregnant and when she brought the baby in there was an un-ignorable resemblance to the math teacher."
"Was a big scandal at our relatively small private school."
"One of a few actually."- golden_death
DNA Is Unpredictable
"I know a guy who is fully white, his parents are both white and his younger sister is black."
"I always assumed she was adopted and one day when I mentioned it, he looked at me weirdly and was like no dude that’s my full blood sister."
"Obviously I didn’t believe it, and apparently neither did his dad at the birth."
"But they got the paternity test and she was his daughter."
"Likelihood is they’ve got some black ancestors far enough back to be forgotten about."
"I also know a dude who has a white Scottish mum, and a black Jamaican dad."
"Dude came out pale white with a ginger afro."
"Genetics were not on his side."- tashhepstir
Needless to say, everyone has a right to feel shocked, betrayed or angry in situations like these.
However, being a parent to a child isn't always dependent on DNA.
In the end of the day, there is no greater bond between a parent and a child than love.
