Mothers discover their babies were switched at birth after chance encounter

A chance encounter between two Argentine mothers led them to discover the private clinic they had delivered their babies at three weeks before had mistakenly switched the infants.

According to Santa Cruz Sentinel, the mothers met while waiting with their daughters at a pediatric clinic in San Juan. They began discussing their suspicions with the clinic’s stories and found an interesting coincidence: The baby each woman brought home corresponded with the birth weight of the other woman’s child.

“When my baby was born by C-section, they told me straight away it was a beautiful girl weighing 3.1 kilos but when they gave her to me they said she weighed 3.8 kilos and was a breech birth,” Lorena Gerbeno told Spanish-language C5N. The other mother, Veronica Tejada, said she was the one who had a breech birth with her 3.8-kilo baby.

With their suspicions piqued, the women exchanged contact information. Lorena, a lawyer, then filed a criminal complaint and requested a DNA test to determine the girls’ maternity. The results confirmed their theories: The babies had been switched.

Both women are reportedly considering legal action against the hospital. Still, they agree the story had an impossibly happy ending.

“I spent three weeks with a baby that was not my daughter but I gave her all my love and knew that the other mom would do the same,” Lorena said shortly after reuniting with her biological daughter. “Thank god this nightmare is over.”