I just couldn't believe it. In the episode, reporter Jake Halpern introduces us to a story of two baby girls who were accidentally . But I feel I must get this out in the open, so you two know how wonderful that you both are Christians and great workers in the church. And I said, heavens no. But Sue says there are a lot of things she missed out on, too, by not growing up with the Millers. He's an herbalist? Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print. The fact is Mrs. Miller longed for Sue for her biological daughter ever since she realized the mistake back in 1951, but it seemed futile trying to convince her husband, Norbert. How the truth changed two families' livesand how it didn't. This is Sue reading a letter she got some time ago from her newfound Miller sister, Faith. Before she found out the truth about who her mother really was, Marti's life wasn't all that different from Sue's. Well, no, I wasn't afraid of him. She was a married mother of three living in Michigan, where her husband worked as a chemist. Switched at Birth ended its five-season run on Tuesday with an eventful 90-minute farewell. You're their kid. That's how long it took her to sort out her feelings. They started talking on the phone a lot. And we had the same personality. When I first talked to Mrs. Miller about what had happened when Mary was born, she told me pretty much the same story she told in her letter, how she knew as soon as she got home and weighed the baby that the nurses had made a mistake. The nearest hospital is nine hours on a bus. And so I kind of made a promise to myself that I would just never go down that road again, that I was just not going to go there. Coming up, what it's like to be a mom and to learn at the age of 69 that your only daughter isn't actually your daughter at all. I mean, that's my biological family. They were nice enough when she spoke to them on the phone, but they weren't exactly welcoming her into the family. When we took our baby home, she sneezed five times in a row. Did you agree with him immediately or was there a little bit of arguing back and forth over what to do? Mr. McDonald's health didn't allow it. But even if it did happen, there is no way to prove it. It was the first I had ever heard anything about it. And I was just horrified. This doctor had been kind to us and good to us. So I dropped the mixed-up baby pursuit. Her mother ran a disciplined household, everyone had to work, she remembers washing and drying all the dishes. "This American Life." You know, we opened up more to each other and, you know, we had the same personality and we think so much alike. There is no gray area. I mean, that's my biological family. Why did she listen to her husband back in 1951? Marti considered whether she should go. One of them was Darlene Wolfgram. That's in a minute, from Chicago Public Radio, when our program continues. Jake Halpern is the reporter. She was just tired of secrets. She remembers Marty always lightening the mood in their house as a kid. Martha did not need glasses. She knew it the day she got home from the hospital in 1951 that she had the wrong baby, a baby born to a woman named Kay McDonald. Mr. Miller died in 2000. She also had an older brother, Bob, named after their dad. "This American Life" is delivered to public radio stations by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange. I've forgiven them, but that doesn't mean that I have forgotten. When I weighed the baby, she weighed two and 1/2 pounds less than her birth weight. Did you have enough? She said everybody at church, after having seen Marti beside the rest of the family, just couldn't believe that that was their child. When I mentioned that, I told Mrs. Miller, I felt that it was God's will when she realized that she might not have the right child, I think it was his will that she do something about it. At first, they refused to believe her, but then she told them about the blood tests, finally Sue handed over all the letters that she had and sent them in the past month, letters telling them how much she loved them and how much she wanted to stay their daughter. She'd also moved out of Wisconsin, in her case to Southern California. Like Sue, though, Marti stuck out in her family. So then she found out she had all of these, um, brothers and sisters and the phone calls were fewer. (26 minutes). And now she wanted everyone's role to be clear. The infants were accidentally switched, and went home with the wrong families. To keep the memory of those baby. All Votes Add Books To This List. The Millers are the bespectacled, dark-haired ones from the letter. And he said, well, I wouldn't disgrace the doctor by telling him it gave the wrong baby. So we're you know, so then I just forgot about the whole thing. But later, the two churches merged. Almost 25 years to the day after the student protest at Gallaudet University began in 1988, ABC Family's 'Switched at Birth' features a storyline about a deaf student uprising in an episode . And I can't tell you how hard it was, but it was hard on me all along. And I'm reading this thing going, what do you mean this is my uncle, this is my brother, this is my mom and dad? So I passed it off. The other mother, Kay MacDonald, had no idea the two fathers in this story were not interviewed. She was losing blood and having spasms. You know, I didn't grow up like that at all. Why did you listen to her husband back in 1951? And I said, would you have believed me? A month after she got the letter, Sue went to see her biological mother and father. And she said, you really need to consider how that's going to change your family for you and how it's going to change relationships for you. It was pretty concealed right within our own church. Over the years, Mrs. Miller would do or say things concerning the girls, things that just seemed strange to Kay. And when you get this kind of news as an adult that your mom isn't really your mom or your daughter isn't really your daughter. So that was that. So you fully appreciate the parents who raised you. I don't even know who they are. What Kaye McDonald didn't know was that there was a whole slew of people in her church community who had heard about the rumored baby switch from the beginning, Mrs. Miller and Kay McDonald were actually in different churches. There's a lot of nervous laughter and there are some awkward moments, like when Sue talks to Mrs. Miller about the fact that she never got enough breast milk as a baby. Yes, I did. She was close to her mother. Sometimes my mom thinks I'm a little fanatical. And he said, what would you do if I told you that they were your parents? And he says, this is a nice little baby. Incredibly, when Marty was 21 years old, someone actually told her that she might not be a Miller, one of her older sisters, Ruth, came to visit with her husband, Rudy. Very soon after mine, when we took our baby home, she sneezed five times in a row. Oh, yeah. I think what we do is pretty much our own doing. And so while Seward figured everyone would choose Marty, the outgoing cheerleader, over her, it didn't work out that way. Switched At Birth is a fairly good show with a great concept that has been fairly well executed but there is just something that makes me not love this show. And there were a lot of kids too. You were not adopted. The Public Radio Exchange. 3.75 avg rating 17,692 ratings. And of course, Marti didn't really call a whole lot. She was losing blood and having spasms. She had given birth two years prior, to a girl. By the time she was five or six, there wasn't much money around. You know, so so then I thought, well, OK, then it's not so bad if she you know, she still believes she's my sister. What are you supposed to be with each other? And I felt excluded. How did you feel when he said this was God's will? I don't know why they didn't notice that Marta looked like them and looks like them. All she could do was hope that maybe if she dropped enough hints, calling the girls, sisters and such, Kay would eventually realize on her own what had happened. That could be my sister. Reporter Jake Halpern tells the story of Marti Miller and Sue McDonald, the daughters who were switched at birth, and the many complications that came with learning the truth. After they were born, she had written us a Christmas letter and said she'd always liked to keep in touch with Susan, because the girls were so much like sisters. Here's Marti. I only let myself think about it one time. And the family never went on vacation or even to the movies. It was a different way of living, one that she admires. And you can see, they're just having so much fun and laughing together and just dancing away. Marty worked all of her adult life and still does as a nurse. It's all pretty straightforward. And you looked so much like Carol. Well, sure, I guess, a little built of guilt, but it's not my fault. I asked my mother. And there were a lot of kids, two seven kids in all the McDonald's are the white haired ones in the letter. So she's excited about it. The reason was pretty simple, actually. And he was very angry at first with me. Because that was terrible to have that hanging over you all of the time. What's the treatment? Find ratings and reviews for the newest movie and TV shows. And in the meantime, I had gotten phone calls from people I didn't even know that were telling me, you know, hey, I'm your brother. He danced with everyone. I said, am I adopted? All sorts of interesting people came to the house, guests from out of town and missionaries. A week or so after the baby's birth, I was reaching for something way back in the attic closet and started to hemorrhage, then went into convulsions, back to the hospital for several days and despair for my life. Well, when your husband said to you, this baby's cute, let's keep it. She's a very busy gal, and I was not having that much communication with her. And when Mrs. Miller finally let everybody know the truth, long after both girls were grown up with children of their own, it was disruptive. She heard it first from her own mom, who heard it at church. And I think he honestly never thought it was a possibility. Here she is. The story of an FBI undercover operation from 2006 that went terribly, and became the heart of a case heard at the Supreme Court. But he had everybody convinced, I think, that it was God's will. "Though there are many, many good things about our family and parents and being raised by that family, there were also some definite deficits. So now we are both aware of what happened 43 years ago. The other daughter in this baby switch, Sue, who was born to Mrs. Miller, the one writing the letter, but raised by Kay McDonald, the other woman, reads. The five girls shared one bedroom. I couldn't believe that Because I don't have that feeling about-- I don't think God punishes us in any way. Finally, Sue handed over all the letters that she hadn't sent them in the past month, letters telling them how much she loved them and how much she wanted to stay their daughter. In fact, my mother said, well, just don't tell anybody. People were definitely aware whenever both women were in the same room. It wasn't their place to bring up such a thing, especially with no way to know if it was true for sure, What that meant was that after Kay McDonald finally found out the truth in 1994, people started coming up to her, in church mostly, casually mentioning that they'd known about it all along. Slowly, anger began to set in. And both Marti and Sue worried that the families they'd always thought were theirs would still want to keep them. She didn't question that. She wasn't malicious. 754. This American Life: Switched at Birth Ep. They have almost nothing in common.