This was way back in 1991, and my aunt used to work as a nurse in a hospital when my sister was born. She was an attending nursery nurse at that time. She and my mom are pretty close and I know they would do everything for each other. One time they had a big fight, and we stopped visiting each other and were forbidden to see our cousins. We really didn't understand why because we were between 7 to 10 years old. Well, before I turned 17, my mom and aunt reconciled. We were just happy to see each other again.
When I was 24, I asked my aunt about what went down during a time I had alone with her on vacation. She told me she did something unforgivable. During the birth of my sister, my aunt found out that my mom gave birth to a baby with a physical birth defect. So, she exchanged her with a healthy baby. My mom was absolutely heartbroken when she found out about it because her real baby, my sister, is out there and who knows if she is being taken care of?
My parents tracked her down and found out that after being discharged from the hospital, she was given to foster care because nobody wanted her. We couldn't find her because nobody knows where she is. The sad thing is that we would have loved her the same. Since then, we carry that guilt.
