It's only when the baby started crying the mother realized that the babies had been switched.
A new mum was left shocked and fuming after her ex-husband dropped off the wrong baby at her place. The woman shared her story on Reddit recalling how she was in the middle of a work call when her ex came by to drop off their 17-month-old baby.
As the baby was sleeping, the woman didn't want to wake him up and let him stay wrapped up and asleep. Obviously she didn't expect her husband to not tell his sons apart. Ten minutes later, the little boy started crying, and when she went to check on him, she discovered that the boy wasn't hers!
"I immediately noticed that this was not my son, as my son has blue eyes, and this baby had green eyes," she said, according to The Daily Mail. "Taking off the baby's hat also showed dark blond hair, and not my son's light brown hair," she continued and added, "I immediately called Sean, in full panic mode, telling him to bring me the correct child right this second."
So why did this confusion happen? Well, turns out ex-husband, Sean, had one more son with another woman, Lydia, who is just a few months younger than her son. When he came to drop off his ex's son, Lydia's son was in the car as well.
Elaborating, she said, "Lydia and I have identical custody agreements... Both myself and Lydia have our sons for the odd weeks, while Sean gets the even weeks. This means Sean has both boys at the same time." She continued, "He pushed for this, as he wanted a week on/week off from looking after kids." However, the mum revealed that this arrangement's "primary motive was getting time off."
What's astonishing is the fact that it had only been five months since the arrangement had come into practice. The mum divulged that she immediately called Sean who was just 10 minutes away "in full panic mode" but "Jesus f****** Christ it was the worst 10 minutes of my life," she said and continued, "Sean came back smiling, carrying my son, and says in the most condescending tone of voice "see? He's fine. No harm done."
The livid mum then made it clear to her ex that the custody agreement had to be revised. "I told him that we are fixing this custody agreement," she said and continued, "He is not having both boys alone again. He couldn't tell his own sons apart, so the solution here is for him to not be in a position to confuse them."
"I want to know that I have my child, not Lydia's. I do not feel that this is a lot to ask for. I trusted that Sean, as a father, knew the difference between his children, which he clearly does not," she added. But Sean finds her quite "unreasonable," according to The Mirror.
He tried proving that it was an honest mistake as he told the mum times when his parents brought home the wrong baby from nursery adding that it would become a hindrance later "as the kids won't get to bond with their half brother." He also said that he won't have the weeks that he has to himself if he "has Lydia's son on even weeks and mine on odds, meaning that he'll be more exhausted and it will decrease his income as he won't be able to work overtime (which he currently does in his weeks without the boys)."
The mum disregarding his reasonings said, "I'd be contacting the people who drew up our agreement to amend it, and Sean called me selfish/crazy." But to be sure if she was doing the right thing, she asked the Redditors if she was being irrational.
Most of them agreed that she was, with one saying, "Taking care of 2 one-year-old kids is exhausting and I could absolutely see a good caregiver being worn out and making this mistake with a bundled up baby. If this is the first mistake he's made (nobody was hurt and both babies would have been left with moms who knew how to care for a kid this age for a couple of hours) it's not a reason to change custody."
Another one understood the mum's 10 minutes of hell but she added, "I also think that fear and stress wasn't completely rational. Her son was not lost or in any sort of danger. Her son was in the car with his dad. There was no actual harm to anyone here."
But not everyone was on the same plane. Some agreed with the mother and said, "I would hate to imagine if one of the boys had a medical issue in the future and having their father give the wrong kid medication because he can't tell them apart."
References:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/jluzi6/wibta_for_insisting_we_alter_the_custody/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8910167/Woman-reveals-turmoil-ex-dropped-wrong-baby.html
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/woman-finds-secret-room-house-22925959
