The happiest moment in a many couples lives is when the baby is born. Except, the father takes one look at the child and it looks nothing like him. That can't be right, his wife must have done something. Well, that's not always the case. These fathers share the time that genetics had them confused about their own child. All stories have been edited for clarity.
1 In 7
“A friend of mine tells the story of his aunt giving birth (in the 1970s) to a baby that at first glance appeared to be of Asian descent. Aunt and her husband are both Caucasian Midwesterners from long lines of the same sort, going back to Germany. There was evidently a shocked moment, and then the aunt’s father, my friend’s grandfather, quipped, ‘Well, they say 1 in 7 babies is born Chinese,’ and everyone laughed. The tension broke, long enough for the Doctor (also a white Midwesterner of German stock) to say that it’s likely the kid’s color is just off due to the events of the birth. That baby is now a man in his 30s or 40s, and looks like your typical Midwesterner; he just had some tinge to his skin for a few hours following the birth, plus some dark hair at birth that has since lightened up.”
They Just Hated Her
“Both of my parents have blond hair. When I was born, my hair was strawberry blond. My paternal grandparents lost their mind and accused my mom of cheating because red tinted hair didn’t run in their family. However, it ran in my mom’s family with a redhead popping up now and then. My paternal grandparents didn’t know that, they just really hated my mom, so they looked for excuses to drag her down.
It wasn’t until I stopped looking like a potato (as most newborns do) and started looking like a person when my dad’s family features came through enough to make them apologize to my mom.”
There’s A Book About It
“This happened to my grandma. Seventy years ago in South Africa, my great grandparents (white female and black male) had four kids. They all looked mixed race, till the youngest, my Aunt Jan, was born with bright blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin. Great Grandfather immediately left, claiming their mother had cheated with a white man. The now five kids were adopted out and moved to England.
Last year, my grandma’s daughter (my aunt) hired a genealogist just to discover they were all genetically related, great grandmother didn’t cheat, and they spend their lives in orphanages for no reason. My aunt wrote a book about it. It’s real good.”
Projecting
“After my little brother was born, I was pretty much constantly overhearing the same argument between my parents.
Dad: ‘That baby’s not even mine, he looks nothing like me, you cheating harlot!’
Mom: ‘He looks the splitting image of our daughter (me) you dense idiot!’
Dad didn’t want to believe that my baby brother was his because he had red hair. My Mum was blonde and my Dad had dark brown/black hair. He never kicked up a fuss when I was born with red hair.
For those interested, it was my Dad who was cheating at the time, not my Mum, and he was just projecting or something.”
Odd One Out
“My aunt and uncle had two kids, both ‘head to toe’ blondes. My aunt is blonde, my uncle has light brown hair. They have their third kid who has the darkest, curliest hair you’ve ever seen! My uncle thought my aunt cheated on him with the literal milk man. Apparently that guy had dark curly hair – bad luck.
Turns out my uncle’s mom had dark, curly hair when she was born (and throughout her childhood) but started coloring her hair blonde and straightening it when she was a teen. My uncle never knew his own mother’s natural hair or texture and there were very few pictures of her as a young girl, so he hadn’t known it wasn’t her natural hair. Thankfully, when my aunt and uncle’s marriage was on the rocks, my grandma casually mentioned how much this girl would hate her hair when she grew you and would color/straighten it, just like she had… Uncle had a sigh of relief and all has been good since then.
As of now, my cousin does not dye or straighten her hair – guess grandma was wrong.”
All Babies Start Out Lighter
“My sister used to volunteer as a nurse in (bad) third world countries. She built orphanages and helped with treatment.
In one particular hospital (in Congo I believe, I’m not sure, she’s worked everywhere), she was stationed at the OB/GYN department. On her first day, a woman came in labor with Placenta Praevia (the placenta is in front of the exit for the baby) which was the cause for the mother losing a lot of blood and putting her on the brink of death.
Because my sister was white, and she was wearing a white coat, the DOCTORS there thought she was more equipped to do the Cesarean, even though she was just a nurse in training.
Nevertheless, they shoved the instruments in her hands and made her do it. My sister (the cool girl that she is) continued to do it because the doctors were afraid to do it themselves. (Apparently if you come in and need a C-Section, they cut out the baby but the mom never survives).
Anyhow, she did the surgery from what she had learned from individual study and together with the doctors they managed to save both the baby boy and the mother.
After a harrowing surgery, blood everywhere etc. The baby had to go into an improvised incubator. But before they could do that, the dad went crazy on my sister.
Why you ask?
Well, because all babies come out a little whiter than their own skin color, the dad thought my sister put some spell on the child, making him white (because she was white herself).
People restrained him, the baby was safely incubated and my sister continued to calm the father and explain how it worked.
Needless to say, she was very scared when a huge muscular man went crazy and tried to hit her with a bedpan.
Luckily everything turned out alright in the end.”
Meddling Father In Law
“My dad is Native American and my mom is white.
My parents weren’t married, and they were having some issues with their relationship. My dad had my (half) brother with his former girlfriend. His ex was trying to take my brother away because my dad wouldn’t get back together with her. My dad didn’t like his ex, refused, and stayed with my mom.
My dad and his ex were having a custody battle over my brother, and while that was happening, my mom found out she was pregnant with me.
My grandpa really wanted my dad to go back with his ex, so that they could raise my brother together, and he could learn ‘what a real family is,’ so that ‘he would grow up with a normal family,’ etc. He tried to pay my dad to leave my mom at the start of the custody battle. So, when he found out that she (my mom) was pregnant, he started telling everybody my mom was lying so my dad would stay with her.
Once my mom was visibly pregnant, he would say that my mom had cheated because my dad was ‘smart enough to use protection.’
So, y’know, I was born. Didn’t look native, whatsoever. My dad kind of freaked, and everyone else really did. My grandpa was there, and apparently just started yelling about her being a cheater, and ‘I told you so’.
Thank God they got a paternity test, because yes, I am his kid. I had to take a blood test to get my status card, and I am about 40%.”
A Happy Ending?
“A friend’s cousin had this ‘problem.’
Both she and her husband are white, but when she gave birth to their baby, it came out black. Of course her husband accused her of cheating on him, but she swore she didn’t and asked for a DNA test.
Surprisingly, the DNA test reveals that he is in fact the father of the baby. So what the heck happened with biology?
Turns out, the husband’s mother had cheated on her husband with a black man and was ‘lucky’ enough that her baby had come out white and looking exactly like her.
So, good for the husband, but not too much.
His mother actually got lucky twice, because her husband had died a few years prior and will probably never know about this.
We all love a happy ending.”
Pranked Ya
“My twin boys were born, and the second day in the hospital, a male nurse pulls me aside on my way to the cafeteria and confides in me that I should probably get a paternity test since the boys blood types / features / other factors are so different to me…
I immediately grabbed him by the arm, marched him into our hospital room and confronted my wife… ‘This man says these boys aren’t mine, you dirty, cheating harlot!’
My wife stared at me for a few seconds, then burst out laughing.
We had used a donor since I am genetically sterile. I just wanted to see the look on the guy’s face. Good times.”
Turns Out I was
“So, I sort of WAS that baby.
Picture this.
My mom: 17 year old white girl. Pale. Long straight hair so dark it’s almost black. Dark, dark brown eyes.
My dad: 26 year old black guy. Like, Bernie Mac black. Black African American hair, dark, dark brown eyes.
Me: popping out of the womb, curly blond hair, bright green eyes, skin tone that belongs to neither parent nor is a combination of the two.
My dad flipped out on my mom. Screamed I wasn’t his kid, yadda yadda.
Well….DNA says I am. Not only that, but my eldest half sister (from his marriage to another woman) and I are practically photo negatives of each other. Same mouth, nose, eyes, cheekbones, etcetera.
So there’s no denying I’m his kid.
It’s just at first glance I don’t look like it because of color/complexion.”
“I Regret Ever Trying”
“Kinda happened to my mom. My biological father is Greek with very pale skin and my mom is a white Western European mutt. When I was born, I had very dark skin and a full head of thick black hair. He didn’t seem concerned but his mother freaked out, called my mother and grandmother not so nice names and left.
My father ended up splitting on us when I was about 3 weeks old with no explanation. A couple months later, my skin lightened and all of my black hair fell out. Turns out he was the father. We’ve never tried to reach back out to his family because in that first year of my life, they (his family) went through a lot of drama including arrests, rehab stays, drive by shootings, an affair followed by a divorce, another baby mamma my mother didn’t know about, the list goes on.
My father and I tried to form a relationship when I was in high school. It went okay at first, but then he got weird very quickly. He insisted I called him dad, insisted on ‘regular visitation,’ routinely showed up at my friends and boyfriends houses causing a scene, insisted I get family pictures with his new lady and his 5 other kids (none of us have the same mother, and this is not including the baby he had and ditched before he got together with my mom). I regret ever trying at all. He and his family were and are still trashy hot messes and I’m glad my family decided to keep me away from them.
Cherry on top, he was working for my now husband’s parents when my husband and I first met. Once his parents found out who he was and what had happened, they fired him, so I would never have to run into him at their business. He had it coming anyway, so they were glad to finally stop making excuses for him and let him go.”
Were You Blonde?
“My wife and I are both brown skinned dark haired half-Mexicans and our moms are both 100% white blondes with blue and green eyes.
So we sort of knew it was a crap shoot with our baby, but the nurse who was assisting with delivery had no idea. At one point she gets sort of nervous and calls for help and another I guess more senior nurse came in and nodded and came over to talk to me.
I thought there was something wrong with the baby as she comes over and stumbles through some questions; so I was the father and no one else was coming, etc. Then finally she awkwardly asks if either of us happened to be blonde growing up.
I said yeah, I was and both the baby’s grandparents are blonde as they come and this wave of relief went over her, and she brought me over to see this blonde as heck crowning baby head.
It’s funny because he looks just like me if you applied a gringo Instagram filter. We often get awkward questions about his heritage and my wife always hits them with, ‘Yeah we’re not sure if he’s mine.’
It’s always funny to see people nod for a moment and then go, ‘Wait what?'”
Just A Little Different
“My aunt is a nurse in the maternity ward. She had a couple come in where they were both very black. Lady has baby and it is white as heck. Like, totally pale, no trace of any pigment. They put the baby on her mom and the mom starts yelling about how this isn’t her baby, and they stole her baby (in all fairness, you can be very confused during/after delivery, it wasn’t stupidity), just sobbing and freaking out and the father is just sitting there and looks very confused because even he’s realized that even if she did cheat, there is no way the baby would be THAT white. The doctor and nurses are trying to assure her that this is her baby and the skin usually darkens later.
Come to find out, when he called his mom, she pointed out that they have a second cousin who is albino and maybe baby got that gene. Turns out that’s what happened- baby was albino.”
Grandma’s Secret
“Brother’s work friend is from eastern European country and came to USA many, many moons ago and started his family here. One of his sons meets a nice girl, they plan to get married but life happens and then more life ends up coming out of them. While big family is excited about new baby, father-to-be is absolutely ecstatic, they have a small ceremony before baby is born, yada yada.
Delivery time comes and out pops this little boy who is about 50 shades darker than either parent and new dad absolutely loses his mind. In his heartbroken rage, he accuses his new bride of cheating on him, disowns said child and rages right out of the delivery room, leaving new mom all alone with her mountain of shame.
This guy returns to his family and continues his hate filled rampage and exclaims to his family that his harlot of a wife had cheated on him because the baby looked nothing like him in skin tone. The family is shocked, never would have believed this sweet young thing would do that to their son, absolute shame and misery all around.
Well, sitting in a dark little corner of the room, little tiny grandma chirps up and has a story to tell.
Apparently, back in her glory days, during some war or another, she had a great summer with a french solider. A black french soldier. She got knocked up, and he got sent home and back then you kept the baby and hoped your family didn’t murder you before you could abandon it somewhere. She ended up meeting her husband shortly after getting knocked up and things just progressed as if it was his child and wouldn’t you know, the little thing popped out white as snow, and she breathed a sigh of relief because this was going to be the easiest lie to keep ever.
So this poor man has been carrying around this super melanin gene his whole life and knocked up his wife and it decided to all come out on his sweet little boy who he now has to go crawling back and reclaim.
Thankfully, the whole family went with him to the hospital, old grandma had a picture of her old fella as proof and husband and wife were reunited.”
She Had A Different Story
“From the moment I was born to about a month/month and a half, my father thought I wasn’t his.
I’m the youngest of 6, and at least 10 years younger than the one that came before me. My father had a vasectomy shortly after #5 was born, so when my mom announced she was pregnant, he was pretty concerned. He had an inkling that she was messing around with her boss at the time, so he’s thinking I wasn’t his.
Once I came into this world, my father’s fear of me not being his only spiked: I was tan with a head full of black hair, as opposed to my other siblings who were all born bald and much lighter.
My father told me about all of this part, but said once my hair turned blonde and my legs were long as well as my height being above the normal percentile for children my age, he knew I was his (he’s a very tall man).
As for my sister, she had different information.
She went on to work in the same fire department our dad worked in when I was born. My 13th birthday was rolling around, and she was telling the other firefighters how excited she was and the gifts she was going to send me when one of the older guys piped up with, ‘Hey guys, remember when their dad found out his son was his? Happiest day of his life.’ My sister asked him to clarify, and come to find out that my dad was very suspicious of me not being his, so he had a DNA test done behind my mom’s back and got the results in at the station a few weeks later and found out I was in fact his child. He immediately ran into the station to announce to all of his buddies how it was the best day of his life, yadda yadda.
This is a secret my sister and I will take to our graves, because I know it’d break the old man’s heart if he knew I knew. I understand his concern at the time and I don’t have any resentment toward him.”
My Bad
“Loved my wife and the baby even when he wasn’t born yet. Delivery went well, and they were getting ready to be discharged after some instructions. Nurse says the baby needs a lot of sunlight because he has a slight jaundice. Jaundice because my wife is blood type O the kid has blood type A which the nurse assumed was my blood type. No. I always believed I was O type too. My siblings are all O. I tell this to the nurse and things became awkward.
Nurse was stammering and took back the discharge papers saying she needs to recheck something and went out. I could not look directly at my wife. She’s just completely confused. I just wanted to get out of there.
Nurse returns and wanted us to get our blood tested down the hall. I just said ok clamped up. My was wasn’t talking either. Went and had our blood tested. I walked 2 steps behind my wife. On the way back I noticed the nurses whispering to each other giving side glances at my wife. My wife was about to cry. I took pity on her and supported her walking while saying things will be okay. I did not believe what I said.
Waiting for the result was one of the worst few minutes of my life. I knew I was type O. My wife is confirmed O too few months back.
The nurse returned with results, and they said I was type A. I was sure they faked it just to get us out there and end the awkwardness. I went along with it. We went home.
I got inebriated a few hours later. My dad came, and he was furious I was getting inebriated while my poor wife and son are still recovering. I cried when I told him the story. He slapped me so hard, then told me he was type A too. I was so shocked and happy and wasted.
Got retested on a different clinic, and I am 100% type A. My wife still brings this up for favors or just to mock me.
I still love my wife and the kid is 5 years old now.”
