You’re Not the Father
My ex-girlfriend delivered a baby while I was in the delivery room and turns out it wasn’t mine. She was 16, while I was 15. All along, I was under the impression that the kid was mine and it was time for me to be an adult.
I took all the classes, read the books, and worked every night and weekend to save whatever money I could as a 15-year-old.
When I finally got the call that she was in labor, I had somebody rush me to the ER. Luckily for her, it didn’t last long—only about six hours—but there was a complication.
The baby came out with the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck. The doctor assured us it was going to be OK, but the nurses were prepping for things to go south. When the baby came out, it was a light shade of purple.
The nurses immediately took the baby and put on the smallest mask they had on it; to help it get the oxygen I guess.
I was too panicked to ask a lot of questions. They told us they needed to keep the baby on watch overnight, so I stayed in the room with my ex.
The next evening, the baby was back in the room with us and all seemed well. The ex was asleep, and the same nurse from the night before came into the room and beckoned me out. She told me that at risk of her losing her job, she had to break some harsh news to me.
She said that kid was not mine and that, while at this stage it wasn’t obvious, over the next few weeks it would become clear that the kid was mixed. Since both of us were white, there was a high probability that it wasn’t mine.
Cue a mixed bag of emotions, and me promptly waking my ex to get a little clarification. I came to find out that she knew the chances and was just hoping it was mine because it worked better for her. Apparently, her father was old school and conservative, and she didn’t want to have to deal with that.
I left the hospital to collect my thoughts, and a few weeks later, I was served with child support papers. One DNA test and about six weeks later, I was determined to be 0.0% that kid’s father.
Wherever that nurse is now, I hope her life is amazing. I understand that she was not supposed to get involved in the personal side of things, but she saved me a lot of additional headaches.