Who’s Your Daddy?
If you’ve ever been a “regular” at a bar or other gathering place, you know that sooner or later all of the other bored people around you are going to entertain themselves by opining and speculating on your life since they don’t particularly like their own. Most people just ignore such gossip, find themselves a new watering hole or take up a hobby, like boating, to help them unwind.
I’m guessing one Czechoslovakian couple wishes they’d done that, too:
A Czech couple who decided to take a DNA test to squash persistent pub gossip and prove that their 10-month-old baby was their own got a nasty surprise.
The couple, from the southeastern town of Trebic, had some doubts about the child as her hair was blonde and they both had dark hair. Fellow drinkers’ suspicions got on their nerves.
But the test showed neither of the parents had the same DNA as the baby, Czech news agency CTK reported Wednesday, suggesting a mix-up at the hospital.
Authorities were looking into the case.
If their legal system’s anything like ours, the lawsuit against that hospital’s going to pay for them to start their own bar.
But that doesn’t get their biological baby back, does it?
What would you do if you were in their place: raise the child you’ve thought of as your own for 10 months, or try to find the one that’s actually yours?
*never tease someone who is dieting* *never tease someone who is dieting* *never tease...
It’s hard to say, I mean, bonding with a baby can be incredibly powerful. New moms are just bathed in all sorts of crazy hormones to ensure this.
On the other hand, maybe the body can tell it’s not really your kids.
Oh, and if the couple has a 10 month old and they’re hanging out at a bar… maybe they haven’t bonded that well.
(Okay, okay, cheap shot. I can’t imagine having a 10 month old and NOT wanting to drink yourself into a stupor from time to time. But then, I hear most babies aren’t as crazy as mine. WILL THEY EVER SLEEP???? Ahem. Sorry. Tired. Wisdom teeth sockets still hurt. Sinus infection #87 for the year is ramping up. Oh, and I have the charming gift of a milk blister. I will never feel decent ever again. Argh. I don’t even want to feel good. Just no head pain. For like an hour. One happy, blissful hour. But I digress…)
That’s easy. Both.
Laugh @ wg cause that was my knee-jerk reaction.
I third WG’s opinion.
Wow – that has to be hard! When my daughter was born she had shockingly red hair (I’m dirty blonde and my husband is brunette). I looked at my husband and said, “I swear she’s yours!”
Watch the “I Am My Own Twin” program on the Discovery Health Channel and it will change your view of DNA. Lydia Fairchild (you can google her name and read about it too) had to prove her children were actually hers. It will be interesting to see how these developments change the use of DNA in the justice system as well. The phenomenon is called “Chimerism”, as in “Chimera”.
I don’t have any kids of my own, although I became friends with Red about the same time she got pregnant with her littlest one. When her youngest was born, she had a full head of black, thick, straight hair (I have very dark, straight hair)…Red has curly red hair and the little one’s father has blond hair. At the time, her now ex-husband said I had some explaining to do – joking, of course, since she was conceived in Mexico.
Now she’s seven, and is as much my kid as I could ever hope for. I would never try to replace her father, but she’s grown up with me in her life, and it would literally kill me if she were taken away.
Think about the other family in this case, that has this couples’ biological child. How messed up would that be?