These Moms Found Out Their Babies Were Switched at Birth. They Ended Up Making An Incredible Decision Together
Being a family is not always about blood. Sometimes, those who are not related by blood are the ones who end up treating each other like a real family. And even though mistakes happen, we believe that love will always prevail. That is exactly what happened to these two girls.
Marinella Alagna and Gisella Fodera from Mazara del Vallo, Sicily, both gave birth to adorable baby girls just shortly before midnight on December 31, 1998. Their babies were born only 15 minutes apart.
And somehow, in the shuffle, the nurses made a huge mistake. They got the babies switched around. In the end, they gave the wrong child to the wrong mother!
The mothers did notice that the babies given to them were not wearing the clothes they had brought with them. They notified the nurses but were told that it was fine.
Three years later, these mothers never thought that their girls were actually switched at birth. Not until Marinella spotted a 3-year-old girl named “Caterina” at her youngest daughter’s school. When she sees Caterina, she can’t help but wonder why the little girl has a striking resemblance to her other two biological daughters.
In an interview with Today UK News, Marinella said, “I recognized Caterina’s mother, Gisella Fodera, from the maternity ward and got suspicious — 15 days later we did DNA tests, and my mind went blank. It was too surreal, too impossible.”
Two weeks later, they already have the DNA results. And this proves Marinella’s hunch. This left two families in total confusion. Now, they have proof that they had the “wrong” daughters. But for three years, they’d loved and raised the babies as their own. How can they possibly give up their little girls so easily?
Gisella said, “I challenge anyone to raise a daughter for three years then give her up over a simple mistake.”
Instead of tearing the girls from the family they already love, they decided and agreed on a solution – both families would live together.
Being together in the same house will allow the parents to be with the children that they’d raised and their biological children. Quite a complicated set-up, but it worked for them.
Mauro Caporiccio, author of the film ‘Sisters Forever,’ said, “The girls effectively grew up with four parents and eight grandparents, and the experiment worked. They chose to live together during the weekends and free time. And the girls were classmates until college. They are considered twins. When they were little, they always wanted to be together, which helped the adults a lot.”
Caterina said, “We are a phenomenon. We have eight grandparents, two fathers, and two mothers.”
Melissa agrees, saying, “It seemed like a game, and today, neither of us have any memory of life before we were three. Growing up, I had Marinella as a second mother, as she still is.”
Gisella also shared, “At first, loving Melissa, my biological daughter, felt like betraying the daughter I had raised… but today Melissa and I truly feel like mother and daughter.”
Now, Caterina Alagna and Melissa Fodera are both 23, and they are treating each other as twins. The truth was not kept from them. They were told about the mix-up when they were 8-years-old. And this never affected their relationship.
