The delivery room can be tense for a variety of reasons. From complications to healthy delivery and everything in between, doctors really do see everything. But truly tense drama can unfold when a baby pops out that is clearly not the father's. These medical workers shared their experiences of being in the delivery room when these tense moments occurred. Content has been edited for clarity.
Zero Percent Chance
“A hospital where I was a Med student had a baby born with Hydrops, which is where a baby gets two bad copies of a red blood cell gene, one from each parent. Baby died shortly after birth. Parents came in for genetic counselling and testing revealed the woman’s husband did not carry the alpha thalassaemia gene. The couple asked what was the chance another baby of theirs would have this condition the doctors were honest and told them ‘zero percent.’ They left it at that.”
Mamma Mia
“Had a mum to be who had narrowed the options for baby daddy down to her top three. She was having a c-section and didn’t understand why all three potential dads couldn’t come into theater. She then asked if we could rotate them through, and maybe she’d let the one that was there when baby came out be the ‘real daddy.’ Took all my professionalism to smile politely.”
One Big Conspiracy
“Before meeting my mum and having me, my dad had a son with a girl who worked at my grandad’s bar. My dad was only 17 and apparently my grandad encouraged him to date this girl. My mum is convinced that he isn’t the dad, and that my half-brother is actually my grandad’s kid and that my grandad set my dad up so people wouldn’t find out he’d been sleeping with an underage employee. My mum has brought this up with my dad a few times but he refuses to get a DNA test. He just says, ‘He’s my son,’ and leaves it at that.”
She Took Off Pretty Quick
“I worked in a restaurant right after high school and there was a couple who worked there, too. When the girlfriend got pregnant, she dipped out on him and moved back to her family in Alaska. After a month or so, the boyfriend got enough cash together to follow her. He dropped out of college and got a job on her dad’s fishing boat to support his new family. Months later the baby is born and it becomes more obvious why the girl took off, because they’re both white and that baby was black.”
One Big Yikes
“I’m a midwife. I once had a woman come to my clinic unannounced (she wasn’t my patient but I’m NHS so saw her anyway) She had a man with her, she knew she was about 3 months pregnant but hadn’t come for any antenatal care.
I asked if she’d had relations the night before (she’d come in because she’d had a little bleeding). I looked at the partner as mum said yes and he said, ‘Nothing to do with me – I’m just the baby daddy.’ Turns out she had a new boyfriend at home, this was just the guy she’d been with 3 months before.
I popped her up on the table to examine her and straight away had to tell her that she was actually about 5 months along but I would arrange a scan to confirm. The dude just got up and walked out.
Turns out there was a third guy 5 months ago.”
From Joy To Puzzlement
“When I was a student nurse, there was this one couple, mother was Asian and husband was White. The husband had a brother (African American, he’s adopted from what I remember). The mother had been in labor for around 12 hours and they were very excited to see their baby. I remember the father had been pacing my entire shift back and forth in the waiting room. When it came time to mount the mother on the table, he asked the doctor if he could be in the room; he was grinning like a madman. It was a very positive energy, you could almost get completely absorbed by it.
The doctor was a nice guy he let us get him some throw away scrubs and let him stay in the room. All in all the actual birthing process was pretty standard. However, when the baby came out then came the rough part. He was a normal healthy half African American boy, around 3 kg. I just looked at the baby then looked at the father and watched his face go from joy to puzzlement to horror in around 10 seconds. The mother called out for her child and the doctor being all business cut and suctioned the baby. I’m pretty sure at that moment the father broke because he sort of just stepped back and kept saying, ‘What the eff,’ under his breath. I didn’t get to see much of them for the next 2 hours but I was there when the mother was brought to her room. Her husband and his brother were there as well and she was talking to them.
From what I saw, she was trying to console her husband and his brother was trying to hug him. The husband kind of just kept shrugging off his brother’s arms and crying into his hands. It was a really tough thing to see, but all in all it wasn’t really as dramatic as you’d expect.”
That Makes Things Awkward
“I’m a doctor, and the story actually involved my colleague.
So I’m friends with this guy who we’ll call Nut in med school (we’re not close friends, but we have some common friends, and we shared some rotations together), and this girl we’ll name Mary (Mary was already married at the time and had a 3 year old daughter). Nut and Mary were close, but Mary got held back because Mary got pregnant and therefore had to temporarily stop studying. During that time, me and Nut became interns, and Nut began hanging out often with another girl named Bell. Nut and Bell weren’t that close or physical with each other, so it came as a surprise when 2 months before internship ended, we found out that Bell was pregnant. Turns out that the two were buddies the entire time. Anyway, they graduated, and eventually Bell gave birth to a baby boy, who looked like Nut’s miniature clone. It was as if the baby got nothing out of the mother. At all. Some of us even joked that Nut’s seed was just that strong that he doesn’t create offspring, he creates clones.
Now, Mary eventually caught up with her studies, and entered junior internship so she got to rotate with some of us. And when she showed us the picture of her baby boy. He also looked. Exactly. Like. Nut.
Note that we knew what Mary’s husband looked like, and what Mary’s daughter looked like. Her son looked just like Nut. So much that if you placed her son beside Bell’s, you could easily mistake them as twins (we did just that).”
Best-Case Scenario
“My dad told me this story. He was an NCO in the army, and one night he received a call that the wife of one of his soldiers was in the hospital having a baby. His first response was ‘…so why are you calling me?’ It turns out that the wife was 99.9% sure the baby wasn’t his and she needed someone to make sure he didn’t go crazy at the hospital. So my Dad drives down there, and he finds his soldier trying to push past the doctors into the delivery room. He’s screaming that he has a right to to be in there, etc. My Dad puts his hand on his shoulder (a preface to physically restraining him) and tells him that he can’t go in. The guy must’ve realized that he really wasn’t getting in there, because he just sank to his knees, started crying, and kept saying, ‘I just wanted to see my son being born.’ It was apparent that he wasn’t going to hurt anyone, so they got him to the waiting room and my Dad left, thinking, ‘I just watched the end of someone’s marriage.’
Come Monday morning, the guy comes in with the biggest smile, walking around showing everyone pictures of his black baby (he was white). Of course, they questioned and ribbed him about it, but he would just proudly say, ‘That’s my son.’
Best-case scenario to a messed up situation. I’m not sure how the family is doing now, but it seems like the kid would grow up with a father (or two) who loved him.”
Never Trust A Patient On Their History
“1 – A woman came to the ER with abdominal pain. She was there with her girlfriend. We ran a pregnancy test per protocol – don’t ever trust a patient when it comes to intimacy history. So I got to break the news to this lesbian couple that one of them was unexpectedly pregnant. And, yes, I tried to discretely tell the patient the news alone, but she INSISTED anything I had to say should be done so in front of her girlfriend. OK, but I don’t think that was the prize she was expecting. Baby-daddy showed up. Commotion ensued. Security had to get involved when girlfriend started attacking baby-daddy.
2 – A teenage mom brought her newborn to the ER to be evaluated for something fairly minor (new parent, didn’t really know what she was doing). There was also this teenage guy in the room, so I asked his relationship to the patient. He said he was the step-dad. Apparently he had been dating the mom for a for about a month (baby is about 3 weeks old). It took me a few minutes to wrap my head around that one. For his own sake, I really hope that dumb guy didn’t sign the birth certificate.”
Just High School Things
“A guy from my high school was 16, she was 15. They didn’t know each other when she got pregnant, but she didn’t know who the dad was because she was sleeping with over 10 guys. (She was on a rampage). So he signed the birth certificate, of course.
They broke up of course, not sure if he ever really had to pay up. but years later, wayyy after high school they got back together. They got really serious, she got pregnant with his kid, got engaged, bought a house, and had the kid. They were planning their wedding, really happy together until he went to club and cheated on her and then tried to cheat on her with her own family members. I only figured out they broke up when she posted her wedding dress and wedding stuff on Facebook market place saying, ‘I just want it gone.'”
She’s Still His Daughter
“This happened to me actually. No one said anything to me about their suspicions. Two years later it comes out that my daughter wasn’t biologically mine. By that time, I only saw her as my daughter and nothing else. After months of depression and confusion, I worked it out where I left the mom and I adopted the little girl. She’s raised as my daughter and I don’t see her any other way.
The adoption went like this, I was living in NYC for a year after I found out about my daughter. I was coming back to Ohio every other weekend to visit her and spend time with her. I contacted the biological dad who apparently knew the whole time; his words were he didn’t ‘want anything to with that ugly baby.’ I was pretty upset to hear that, because I didn’t see how anyone could think she was ugly or hate her. Anyways I finally got the job transfer, and after long talks with their mother, I was able to convince her to let me adopt her. To make things more complicated, my ex also had a son who was two years older than my daughter. His biological dad died from an overdose. I started dating their mom when he was an infant. He started calling me dad when he was able to talk. I also was able to adopt him as well. I have two adopted kids, and no relation with their mother. I do not regret anything about what I did. I don’t see these kids as anything but my own.”
Rumors Rumors Rumors
“A friend of mine had been hearing rumors that his wife was cheating on him. He refused to believe them until he found out one day that there was trait that is passed from parents to children. (I want to say cleft chin but it’s not important.) Anyways he went and got a DNA test done as he and his wife did not have the trait, but the kid did. It turns out it wasn’t his kid, they tested their other two kids and he was only the father of the middle child. The first and third child were from two different guys.
He flipped out and punted her out the house and she in turn drained his business account and ghosted away while he started divorce proceedings. He lost almost everything but saved his business by changing the name and some other stuff so that it can’t be used in the divorce settlement. He managed to keep the dogs which she tried to get custody of. The house was totally in his name, so he was able to keep that too. He was awful for a while, just stopped eating, but he is looking much better now and he has got a new girlfriend and seems happy again. The two older kids still pop to see him as they are over 18 but he hasn’t seen the youngest as she is still a child.”
The Whole Family Was There
“A friend from college was on a break with her longtime boyfriend, and then they got back together. Shortly thereafter, she announced she was pregnant, and everyone was really excited for them. Great couple, great relationship, just had a rocky patch for a few months. The boyfriend (and eventually fiancé)’s family had a big gender reveal party, baby shower, the whole pre-baby celebratory works. The whole family was at the hospital waiting room during the birth.
And then a very clearly half-black child was born to two white parents. I’ll give the fiancé credit, he stuck with her for about 6 months, but finally he had to back away. He decided it wasn’t fair to the child to have a half-invested father, and didn’t want to be involved in the kid’s life and then later leave with the kid knowing what was going on. Sucked all around, I don’t think the biological father was ever contacted.”
The Psycho…You Know The One
“My roommate was dating ‘the psycho chick from H-E-double hockey stick’. We’ve all met her. Nothing but screaming fights, glasses thrown through walls followed by the most insane makeup boogie of his life. He knows this is a bad idea but the banging is THAT good. Well this girl gets knocked up. GREAT. He’a stuck with her for 9 months. They go to the hospital together and she spits out the blackest baby you have ever seen, and admits on the spot that she cheated on the weekend he was in Las Vegas.
Needless to say, he was outta there like a roadrunner followed by a trail of dust. Poof.
While back at home he’s telling me how he dodged a bullet, and I reminded him that he bragged to me about banging a chick in Las Vegas that weekend, and that karma was a b-word.
Silence.”
Double Pregnant
“I used to work at a Children’s clinic, we had a mom come in with her newborn twins with Dad. Now, Mom and Dad were both dark skinned, but Dad was VERY dark skinned. They had twins and there is phenomenon where sometimes one twin doesn’t get the pigment in their skin right away, and sometimes won’t get it at all. So she had one dark skinned baby and one baby that seriously could have passed as white.
Dad swore up and down that baby wasn’t his, but just that baby. He said he could tell the ‘first one’ was his, but the other wasn’t. His mother and him had ‘figured’ that if she had slept with two dudes in a close timeframe that she got ‘double pregnant’ with one from each dude. The doctor tried her best to explain how medically impossible that was, and explain how this sometimes happens, and then how pigment works, but dude was convinced. Double Pregnant.”
10 Years Later The Truth Comes Out
“When I was around 13-14, my girlfriend told me she was pregnant. I didn’t know what to do. It was a rough few weeks. Our plan was to have an abortion but, she had a miscarriage.
Fast forward to age 24, I’m married and we’re trying to have a kid. Nothing is happening. I go to the doctor to get a sperm count. The nurse, eating an apple and clearly irritated, tells the doctor that, ‘There are plenty of them swimming around in there.’
So, my wife went to get checked. No problem found. Back to me. I go to a new doctor and he examines me. In about twelve seconds he identifies that my vas deferens ends prematurely. I was, basically, born with a vasectomy. Everything else is normal, but without a medical procedure, I had zero chance of fathering a child.
It was an odd feeling finding out that my childhood girlfriend had cheated on me and gotten pregnant about 10 years ago, and also that I could have safely skipped buying a few rubbers.
Oh, and that the nurse outright lied to all of us, causing several more months of misery.”
From The Child’s POV:
“My mom used to sleep around a lot when she was a teenager. She already had one kid before me and continued to do so. When I was conceived, she was only hooking up with one man at the time, supposedly.
When my mom gave birth to me, I came out extremely pale with red hair and blue eyes. My mother is Italian with brown hair and brown eyes. Meanwhile, the guy she slept with was Filipino with black hair and brown eyes. My mom immediately told the dude to leave since it was obvious he wasn’t the father. He was devastated and tried to contact her, but nothing happened.
Fast forward two years later, my face started to grow more and more like Asian dude. My mom contacted him and they immediately got a DNA test. It turns out, he was actually my dad and I somehow got all of the recessive genes in my family.
My parents ended up having my sister that looks exactly like my mom. My dad ordered a DNA test again since there was no sign of the dad in her. Turns out she was his. My mom admitted she was sleeping around the whole marriage after the DNA test was ordered at the hospital. Another big scene with the exact same scenario, but this time they filed for divorce too.”
Someone Please Call CPS
“My neighbor just across the street met a girl at a bar where he plays (he’s a guitarist) and later that night took her home but before that, he asked her age. She said she was 18. Then after a week, she returned and told him she was pregnant. Now when he told this to us, my mom, my brother and I became really suspicious. Here, in my country, being a teen mom is a no no. You’ll get stigmatized to put it lightly, but this girl just broke that news like it’s nothing. Now fast forward a few weeks and the mom gets involved and this is where things get real crazy.
She told him that her daughter was actually 13 and that if he didn’t foot the hospital check-up bills, she will report him to the police. My neighbor couldn’t do that as he’s broke. So after a couple trips to the hospital and maybe finally realizing he doesn’t have any money, she stops. Then one day that girl dropped the bombshell on our neighbor (she probably felt guilty since he was nice) she told him that he’s even not the father of the child. The real father was her step dad.
Turns out the step dad was an addict and the girl was being abused for years every time her mom was away. My neighbor wasn’t the first they tried to extort money from, but good thing he was poor.”
The Father’s Definitely Not Who They Expected
“I had a 12 year old girl come in having contractions. She was very fair-skinned, red hair, freckles and definitely 9 months along and in labor. Her parents arrived with her explaining that her father was a superintendent and her mother a teacher. They desperately wanted no information or this pregnancy to get out, which I assured them was no problem. Mom and dad were off to the waiting room when up to the desk came this slight, equally pale, curly-haired kid who couldn’t have been much older than 12 himself. He asked to see the young girl and I told him I couldn’t even tell him whether she was there or not. He then told me he was her boyfriend and I explained it didn’t matter. So he headed to our waiting room.
About 30 minutes later, a big, tall, very muscular, man, whose skin looked like creamy milk chocolate came in, and asked about the young girl in labor. Said he was her gym teacher. I once again relayed the no information clause and he headed to the room where the others were waiting. I resumed my attention on the girl, asking her if there was anyone she wanted in the birth with her and she asked for her parents. So, when she’d begun pushing, I had an assistant get her parents ready to go in. Long story short: baby was born healthy…and with a very dark complexion. Looked like gym teacher was the baby daddy. The girl’s father suddenly went red and then her mother began to faint. We caught her and hustled both of them out of the room and sent them to post-partum.
I said nothing to the young boy or the gym teacher and hurried back to the delivery room where I’d left mom/baby with the nursery nurse. Doc had retrieved a cord blood sample and I cleaned up mom and took her to postpartum. The other nurse took baby to the nursery for intake. I then called the cops and caught up on paperwork so it’d look like everything was ok. When the police arrived, I had paperwork ready for them, DNA orders, and cord blood (which has to pass through legal channels only.) They cuffed the gym teacher and took him away, just as the new mom’s father came into the hall yelling, ‘You’re fired!’ The young boy left in tears.”
