Cuckoo
I was just reading a news story about a woman who took home the wrong baby and got to thinking that this must be a common maternal
But, fess up, y'all all had the same fear didn't you? That you'd take the wrong baby home.
But MY concern was always that they had switched mine at birth not that the one I took home was wrong. I mean, by day two, when the drugs wore off, I could recognise my own baby. When each of them first nursed I memorised their faces.
Is that just me? Is it a breastfeeding thing? Was it just because I'm an artist and am very visually oriented? Or am I speaking from over-confidence, and in actuality, couldn't have told for sure which baby was mine?*
At any rate, I'm fascinated that this might be a nearly universal misgiving in mothers. I wish I had the time and means to do a study.
Everyone tells me that my children all look alike. I find them entirely dissimilar ... as if they had all come from different families. Heck, I don't think they even look like me and Bodog!
I'm not suggesting, of course, that my kids aren't my kids, I can just see, now, how these sorts of thoughts could creep into any person's head. Up till now I just figured it was my own paranoia, LOL!
The response must have a bioligical origin, it must be an instinct to be sure that we were nurturing our OWN genetic carriers. Since our particular branch of the primate tree has lost the ability to identify our newborns by smell - as our dog would her puppies, or my sheep their lambs - we must do so only by sight; and a random, blonde, caucasian, newborn human, squashy and screaming, looks pretty much like another.
It's not hard to see how the mix-ups of yesteryear (when it did happen every now and then), where the wrong child was actually raised by another family, could happen. We are at the mercy of our own instincts and visual memories and the hospital staff and proceedures!
So, come on, give over. Have you ever looked at your child and had the fleeting, serious, doubt that she was really yours? Were you anxious in the hospital that you had the right baby? Or were you one of those lucky ones whose mom had flaming red curly hair and whose baby daughter popped out her spitting image, hair and all? Leave your story in the comments!
Identical enthusiasm for consuming sugary Icees! That proves it! ... yeah, they're Bodog's spawn.
*of course since my smallest babies weighed in at 9lbs and 9lbs 1oz (Bitty Girl and THCTD) and my largest at 10lbs 8oz (Boy) and the other two (Bulk and Fiver) at just under 10lbs, I could always identify mine by size alone. *rolls eyes* "No, no, he's that BIG wriggly grub at the back! Yep, that's mine! Pass him over here, wouldja?"
5 Comments:
First off, I have to tell you how gorgeous all of your children are (as if you didn't already know!) and say that I love the photos.
I never doubted that the kids I brought home were mine, but I did have the fleeting fear of them being switched at birth. None of my kids look like me. The first three don't look like their bio-dad's side of the family either. As for my last four, well, Gabby (the 6 year old) is her daddy's little clone in female form.
But really, I hear all of the time how alike those four look, but I think they all look completely different from each other.
Meh, my brother and two sisters and I don't look anything alike either. Looking different from one another is what's similar in my family! LOL!
Mine look so much like my family, they're either mine or my sister's kids. And since we were pregnant at different times, they're obviously mine. Seriously, my daughter is me (with minor differences) 20 years ago, and my son looks so much like his cousin that they're mistaken for twins. We've got some powerful genes, I guess. :)
Your kids are gorgeous, but there is a very big resemblance. They're not exactly alike, of course, but they do resemble.
I don't think I was ever afraid I brought the wrong kid home. Though I do remember wishing as a child that a mistake had been made and I had gone home with the wrong family. :)
There is no POSSIBLE way I could have gone home with the wrong babies. When Punkin' was born, the nurse who was cleaning her off looked at her, looked at my husband, looked back at the baby, then looked at my husband again and said "wow." Beanie looks JUST like my sister did at her age. I know my kids are mine.
And really? I know you see all your kids differently, but they clearly all come from the same family. I don't think you have ANYTHING to worry about.
Great post and your kids are simply adorable!
Out of my three kids: one is the spitting image of me, one is the spitting image of her father and the other one would be the spitting image of her father except she has my blonde hair and turned out with hazel eyes (instead of blue or brown). Nope, there was no mistaking my babies. :)
However, if you see me with the two that don't look like me, you'd never presume they were mine or related they look that different. Even my twins (one of whom looks just like me) don't even look related.
And I agree, though the paranoia crossed my mind fleetingly, I never could have went home with the wrong babe as I memorized mine from head to toes the minute I laid eyes on them.
I also agree that your kids look alike (although certainly not identical,) and when Bulk was a baby I thought he looked very very much like Bodog. And they're all gorgeous, ofcourse. Anyhoo.
I never worried about taking home the wrong baby, but Matilda was a homebirth, and Philip roomed in with me and never left my side since he popped out (hospital policy, but I would have wanted it this way anyway.) Also, they look very much like DH and myself.
But on a speculative level, I might be way off the mark here, but I always thought that it would be more possible to not "imprint" with your newborn's face if you have had a medicated birth... Just because you'd be a bit more drugged up. But I don't know if that's right or not.
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