‘After My Son Was Born They Brought Me A Girl Instead And Argued With Me’
Giving birth can be stressful enough. When a nurse gave her a wrong baby, this mother had to fight to get her baby. This is the last thing a parent wants to do after giving birth.
In a TikTok video, Becky Martin explained her disturbing story. It happened twice. “I actually have had my babies switched by the hospital, not just once but twice,”
After the First Son Was Born
During her first birth, she was breastfeeding her newborn when the nurses came to bring her baby back. “With my first, they wheeled in a baby boy and they were like ‘we fed your baby for you’, and I was like ‘I’m breastfeeding’.”
The nurse realize that she made a mistake and said: “Sorry, wrong baby”
She didn’t think she would have to worry about repeating the story on her second birth.
@becky.0121 #stitch with @marieeliza #switched #switchedatbirth #hospital #hospitalbirth #obgyn #homebirth #momsoftiktok #momsofmany #babies #fyp #ASOSFashunWeek
Then It Happened Again
“With my second, they wheeled in a baby girl and were like ‘here’s your daughter’.” We were like ‘she’s already in the room with us’.” At this time, Becky had enough. “Once was an accident but twice was a pattern.
By then, Becky had had enough. When it came to her third baby, she refused to let it out of her room even when the nurse tried to take it in for testing.
“Of course, they fought us on it. The charge nurse came in and said [they] had to take that baby out to do testing. I said… Well, you can either do it in my room or I’ll accompany you to the lab, or we’ll do it or we’ll do it at his first doctor’s appointment,” she said in the video.
One of the gynecologist told her: “That’s right Becky, we’re all trying to steal your baby.“
One has to wonder if this is just one of the many reasons women are being urged to campaign for homebirth, says Becky. Many women have contributed similar stories. As the video has over three million views, many parents have begun to voice doubts about their own children in the comments Now I’m wondering if my kids are actually my kids.”
“I’m not kidding. I’ve always thought about this, I’ll be putting a big Sharpie on their feet or hands to be sure,” another wrote.
Moreover, many women contributed similar stories. One mother said, “When my son was born, they brought me a girl, and I said ‘I had a boy’… a nurse came in and said ‘I was in your delivery.’ I’ve never seen you before in my life.“
Another wrote: “My mum had to go look for my little brother after she gave birth and found him with a lady down the hall.“
Most hospitals have strict protocols in place to stop these types of errors, such as identification tapes. But these systems, too, are subject to human error. Baby mix-ups happen and are not always caught, as in the case of Becky Martins. There is no way to know the exact statistics of babies delivered because hospitals do not track them or keep them private. But there are ways to prevent this.
Despite the low chance of a baby switch, the precautions are simple and easy to implement. Listen to the mothers, keep an eye on the baby, and the precautions come down to that.