this american life switched at birth transcript this american life switched at birth transcript

We had a baby scale at home. I only let myself think about it one time. Four Ages in Life. Marti says she felt like everything she was interested in was lost on her parents. And so, of course, he was trying to get me to say that I had forgiven them. Marti says her mom, Mrs. Miller, sees the world in black and white. And the other thing was that he really thought, what difference does it make? She was nervous, studious, serious, but it didn't seem so strange in junior high. 5 seasons available (103 episodes) Sixteen years ago, one mistake changed two families forever when two newborns were switched at birth. Maybe because some of the Miller girls had suspected that she was their sister for decades and because Mrs. Miller always knew the truth, she was being embraced completely by the Miller clan. Thanks, especially, to the McDonald and Miller families for letting us into their homes and telling their stories. Slowly, anger began to set in. And he says, this is a nice little baby. A month and a half later, she wrote the letter. One of them was Darlene Wolfgram. She thought she was going to die. They had dogs and raised angora rabbits. For our 25th Anniversary, a favorite episode from 2008. But he had everybody convinced, I think, that it was God's will. best time of year to see turtles in oahu. And I was just horrified. S1 E3 - Portrait of My Father Bay begins to ask questions about her biological father. That's what I'm talking about. It was the first I had ever heard anything about it. Having two sets of parents and two full sets of siblings and cousins is kind of a practical headache. So instead of going in the hall and going out, we would crawl through the register. And I said, well, I don't know. She always referred to the girls as sisters. And Mrs. Miller said to me, did you ever think that our girls were switched at birth? Podcast: Switched at Birth Switched at Birth is a tale of two babies, who were exchanged at birth following a mix up at the hospital. So he said, I don't need a DNA test. And I said, I don't know. At the Beginning This true story started in the early 1950's when two girls were born at the same hospital in a Wisconsin town. There is so much going on with the hospital switch, new boyfriends every week, friend drama, sport drama, parental drama, rebelling drama mixed in with occasional sign language use and . And basically and this is going to sound like kind of. He was popular and I wasn't. Punishes us in any way. And I am 61 years old. Reverend Miller is affectionate with her, putting his arm around her waist. I had my own room. Never had that happened with any of our others. Rudy had a couple of beers, and after dinner, he got to talking and he started asking me what I knew about the McDonald's. The other problem for Marty was how to approach the McDonald's for biological parents. Switched at Birth. So I dropped the mixed-up baby pursuit. I was sure then that there had been a mix-up. The nurses brought her the same baby girl. Like one of my uncles on the birth side, Earl Gonzalez, she circled his name, and she wrote, this is your uncle. My dad had this horrendous guilt, because he felt like it was all his fault that he should have believed my mother for all those years. Kay is no longer angry the way she was, but she says she'll never understand why Mrs. Miller stayed silent for all those years. I really only thought about that one time. April 28, 1991. She wanted to be a part of a big family. And that no one around. Our services run deep and are backed by over ten years of experience. So then she found out she has all of these brothers and sisters. This week's entire show is devoted to the story of Mary Miller's secret and what happened when both families finally learned the truth. It's pretty rare that Marty and Sue actually meet face to face once every few years, they get together for a large family gathering a wedding, a graduation, a funeral. Well, my sisters had this crazy thing going on when Faith was a teenager. I thought it was just Rudy being Rudy, you know, he just has crazy ideas and he dreams these things up. In junior high, I remember my friend said to me, you must be adopted, because you do not look at all like your parents. That's Sue. Our staff for today's show includes Alex Blumberg, Sarah Koenig, Seth Lind, Lisa Pollak, Robin Semien, Alissa Shipp, Matt Tierney, Nancy Updike, and Diane Wu. It got so bad, Kay had to go on medication for high blood pressure. She looked exactly like him. And yes, Sue is different from the rest of the family in certain ways, dark and tall and skinny and a family that was none of those in a pretty lighthearted household. That's in a minute, from Chicago Public Radio, when our program continues. They lived a short drive from each other's houses in Wauzeka and Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Mr. Miller died in 2000. She said, well, if you were to find out that that these parents that you have are not your parents and the other family doesn't want to have anything to do with you, how are you going to feel? And then after I knew that they were. When Kay's church was celebrating its 150 year anniversary, for instance, Kay was chairperson for the event. She told the counselor her story and said she wanted to get blood tests done. Earlier this month, Sue's daughter got married in Michigan. No, no, no. And Mary Miller explains why she was tormented by her secret but unable for decades to share it. But, boy, it was really for me. Pudd'nhead Wilson. Over the years, the thought that she might be someone else's child festered in the back of his mind, and much later when she was in her mid 30s, she decided to get to the bottom of it. (Paperback) by Janice Kay Johnson (Goodreads Author) They understand what their relationship was like. After dinner, she sat down and told them about Mrs. Miller's letter, told them point blank she wasn't their child. This was a house with a lot of rules. And I couldn't figure that out at the time. When I weighed the baby, she weighed two and 1/2 pounds less than her birth weight. That's sort of spooked Marty, so she left it alone. She didn't grow up with Sue, after all, and she's not actually related to her or to her kids. this american life switched at birth transcript. She I did feel in the beginning like she was taking my place in my family, and that was odd, very odd, and sometimes I don't know exactly what her relationship is with my sisters. He went to Oregon to get away from a got a girl in trouble. You're their kid, you're in their family. I don't know how I would have survived. She brought happiness. But a hospital. Her name's also Sue. His heart was elsewhere. This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange. Mary Miller is 96 now, she lives by herself in the country, her house is filled with the remnants of her and Norbert's life together in the church. And basically-- and this is going to sound like kind of a small thing, but it was a big thing to me-- she circled the names of people that were participating in the program. But that's all she said. Instead, they were all taught to paint and encouraged to play music. She turns the groom and handed Bob's older son a present for his baby. I just I just thought it was odd that so many people would know in a town of our size, which is like 50, 500 people, when that many people were aware of it, that the news didn't get to us. Katie Leclerc and Adam Hagenbuch in "Switched at Birth.". And as that baby Sue grew up, the one thing that puzzled Kaye was that Mrs. Miller, whom she knew only vaguely from church, seemed so interested in Sue. This brings us to Marti, the other baby in this baby switch. In the Miller household. Marti wrote a letter to Kay and Bob McDonald, her biological parents. They understand why she didn't speak out sooner. And the family's relationship with Dr. Deathlok was no small thing, either. Seven kids in all. So he did know it too. And you can see, they're just having so much fun and laughing together and just dancing away. Here she is. I didn't get picked. 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. Once every few years, they get together for a large family gathering, a wedding, a graduation, a funeral. She circled the names of people that were participating in the program like my one of my uncles on the birth side, Earl Gonzales. That sort of spooked Marti, so she left it alone. He just has crazy ideas and he dreams these things up. In fact, she seemed to have a tin ear for the whole thing. And I said, I don't think they know anything about it. And I said, heavens, no. 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? In fact, it was the exact opposite. The next week, though, when Marty was visiting their mom, Mrs. Miller, she asked her about what Rudy had said. That could be my sister. So now we are both aware of what happened 43 years ago. And she said, Oh, no, no. Well, our program was produced today by Jane Marie and myself. You know, it's like I'm a teenager again and nobody danced with me. We'll keep her. What's the treatment? If you're just tuning in, Jake Halpern is telling the story this hour of two girls switched at birth. this american life switched at birth transcriptsour milk bread recipes no yeastsour milk bread recipes no yeast And as you heard in the letter, one thing that makes this whole thing even stranger is that the two couples knew each other. Mr. McDonald ran the TV repair shop in town. Tells the story of two teen girls who discover that they were accidentally switched at birth. Kay McDonald began getting notes and phone calls from Reverend Miller. He was popular. And things are good with Mrs. Miller to Marty's accepted that despite some of the clumsy things that her mother said and did when she broke the news to her, she meant well. At the hospital in 1951, Kay McDonald was told that she'd given birth to a nine-pound, four-ounce baby. As for Marty, she doesn't like to dwell on the notion that Sue might have been the one who lucked out. One thing Mrs. Miller doesn't regret is raising Marti. 42 years after the switch, Reverend Miller finally laid eyes on Sue at the McDonalds' wedding anniversary party. Because he told me, well, I don't care what anybody says. When Sue arrived, she slipped in quietly. She's part of that odd family. And I thought I was losing both of them. And she said, oh, no, no. 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. It's for your child. She's with us. Is my brother going to care to even see me anymore? There are birthdays and graduations and figuring out where to spend holidays. So we all we never said anything about it. Note: This American Life is produced for the ear and designed to be heard. On a fictional TV series, ABC Family's Switched At Birth, deaf students fear their deaf school will be shut down. Every day she was at the hospital, the nurses brought her the same baby girl. Switched at Birth. And the feeling in their house is very different from the feeling in the Millers house. And the moment he saw her, he knew that she was his biological daughter. The other woman reads, I had complete anaesthesia, so was asleep when our baby was born. this american life switched at birth transcript. And then he danced with my cousin. The nearest hospital is nine hours on a bus. Once things calm down, Sue came to two conclusions one, she wasn't going to become estranged from her mother, and two, it was her brother she might lose. She wrote that letter to Mrs. Miller eight years after she learned the truth. Yes, I told Norbert, I think we have the wrong baby. She wanted to be a part of a big family. You know, she's part of that odd family, you know? Marty wrote a letter to Kay and Bob McDonald, her biological parents. My brother and Marti are just thick as thieves, you know, it seems like. A month after she got the letter, Sue went to see her biological mother and father. From the McDonalds' perspective, Marti looked and acted remarkably like a McDonald. The same plot device appears in the Freeform TV series Switched at Birth, which aired its series finale in April after five seasons. But I went along with it because. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting in print. Switched at Birth is the first mainstream television series to have multiple Deaf and hard-of-hearing series regulars and scenes shot entirely in ASL (American Sign Language) as reported by ABC . And much later, when she was in her mid-30s, she decided to get to the bottom of it. And then to think that I didn't get to raise the one that I had wanted so much. Well, of course, they were really clamoring to get to know her. She says, even now, the Millers can't tell when she's being ironic. My mom said, oh, well, you just take after great-grandpa this or aunt so-and-so. But it just brought up feelings that feel crummy again. But she didn't call them right away. I guess you can't understand. One of her older sisters, Ruth, came to visit with her husband Rudy. Yes I did. She denied it. And both Marti and Sue worried that the families they'd always thought were theirs would still want to keep them. My mom said, oh, well, you just take after great grandpa this year and so on. A month and a half later, she wrote the letter. There were a few years there, where every chance my mother got, she made it perfectly clear that I was a McDonald. I don't have any idea. Occasionally, she'd break down and cry. My brother and Marty are just like thick as thieves, you know, it seems like and whenever Marty comes to my home town, she stays with my brother and they stay up all hours of the night talking for to her brother's enthusiasm for Marty brought out every insecurity she suffered as a schoolgirl. Hey, I was switched at birth with you. But I kept looking for her and I was always asking anyone who might have seen her, and that day when I would go down, have any touch with the McDonald's, we we got introduced to them, I, I tried to talk to her about it and she she told somebody that I was crazy. We're devoting the full hour today to what happened to these two families. Going the normal way, like most [INAUDIBLE]? The church was the center of their lives and the family never went on vacation or even to the movies. I promise you, I'll never try to make you think of me as your daughter. So I did think, yeah, you know, she's she's going to know that's not my daughter and she's going to and she's going to get this popular, Marty, who's so fun loving and and looks like her. When she finally heard from Mrs. Miller, the mother she'd grown up with, not only did she get the letter, but Mrs. Miller had just been to the 50th anniversary party of the McDonalds, Marti's biological parents. I remember at the wedding when my nephew got married, my brother danced with everybody. Bay meets Emmett outside a college party she got dragged into when he alerts her not to be in that neighborhood late at night. Just absolutely bizarre. The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is excited to share the remarkable news of an all American Sign Language episode to happen on Monday, March 4th on mainstream television! I love you both. This is my brother. They have mutual acquaintances. Later that same day, Sue drove to the McDonalds', to the parents she'd grown up with. It'll be all right. Because it was terrible that hang over your head and. Shut up. Because Mrs. Miller didn't want cross her husband, 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. She's a very busy gal, and I was not having that much communication with her. It's sad that it happened. Just absolutely bizarre things like that. Darlene Wolfgram did tell her daughter, though. Was there ever a time when you thought back and thought I should have stood my ground more with him on that? I talked to Norbert about it, but he did not want to disgrace our good Dr. Deslack. Did you have? So at this point, you're probably wondering, why in the world didn't Mrs. Miller straighten this out quicker? This summer, Bob McDonald, younger son, got married in period. The five girls shared one bedroom. And I didn't grow up like that at all. I've forgiven them, but that doesn't mean that I have forgotten. I would say that Sue and I were probably not that close for whatever reason. And then after I knew that I had been switched and that I had different genes, and my parents kept talking about these people that were so odd, the Millers, because Reverend Miller, he is an evangelical preacher. She looks just like Mary Lydia. The series, in which Ms. Leclerc plays a teenager who lost her hearing as a young child, has been off the air for more than a year . One, she wasn't going to become estranged from her mother. The Secret Life of the American Teenager. He thought she really dreamed this up in her head and just got obsessed with it. That's just how she is. From Marty's perspective, the genetic counselor's prediction from years before seemed to be coming true, it felt like she was losing both her mother's. I didn't have a doubt in my mind. She'd also moved out of Wisconsin, in her case to Southern California. But it was just it took a while for us to. Finally, on July 10th, 1994, Norbert was willing to go to Kay and Bob McDonald's fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration at Pershing United Methodist Church when he saw you. Very soon after mine, when we took our baby home, she sneezed five times in a row. Since we first broadcast this story in 2008, the mom who knew about the baby switch at the time, Mary Kay Miller, has died. Part of me really doesn't want to know because I think I would feel left out of something. Mrs. Miller says she worries for Marti and Sue, about whether they'll ever truly get along. 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. And now she wanted everyone's role to be clear. Earlier this month, Sue's daughter got married in Michigan. After they were born, she had written as a Christmas letter and and said she'd always like to keep in touch with Susan because the girls were so much like sisters. Sue knew her mother had never been a big fan of the Millers ever since they met. Did you feel that then after this happened a little bit closer to your dad than your mom? Because that was terrible to have that hanging over you all of the time. Well, of course, they were really clamoring to get to know her. I wanted a baby, you know, and you're my baby. this american life switched at birth transcript. 44:35. The Millers didn't have much money and they might not have been able to afford the health care otherwise. They understand what their relationship was like. october 22, 1995 bay kennish was born this book will be all about her life Switched At Birth (Exactly like the TV Series) 25422 Switched at Birth: Two teenage girls discover they were accidentally switched as newborns in the hospital. I want you to know that I will accept whatever contact you choose to have with me, even if it's none at all. I changed your diaper and my mother, nothing was going to be different between us. And the feeling in their house was very different from the feeling in the Miller's house. "This American Life" is delivered to public radio stations by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange. During this time, it was Marty's dad, Reverend Miller, who reassured her they started talking on the phone a lot. They just didn't talk about these kinds of things. She didn't fit in. Norbert and I had a good time while we were together, but. To keep the memory of those baby. That was a hard thing to hear. It was actually right after I met them. Nothing seemed amiss to her. His heart was elsewhere. And Susan always had said to me, Mom, why didn't you have any more children after I was born? And she would circle their names and say, these are your parents. Well, you know, there was no DNA testing back then or anything else. One of the mothers realized the mistake but chose to keep quiet. But at the same time, when she refers to Kay, she says, well, your mother is doing such and such or your mother said this. Archive; Recommended; How to Listen; . She grew up as the sixth child in a family of seven kids. I was surprised that nobody really ever told us, the Booms, the Tinors, the Langs, the Haisens. Probably Martha with her happy-go-lucky nature could take the climate of the Miller home better. I thought that was such a ridiculous thing to say. You're still our kid and I'm glad we had you. Reverend Miller. And the Millers show her pictures of her other relatives. Jake Halpern, he's the host of the new podcast Deep Cover, about an FBI agent who goes undercover with an outlaw motorcycle gang. That was enough. Hey, I was switched at birth with you. So then I thought, well, OK, then it's not so bad. 7 Baby Girls Learn of Switched Fates as 56-Year-Old Grandmothers (1953) Via dailymail.co.uk In 1953, two baby girls were born on May 3 at the Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Heppner, Oregon. This is not my my family. She lives by herself in the country. The nurse weighed the baby and must have left her in the delivery room until after Kay's baby was born. Just got obsessed with it. She tells me that you're my daughter. And if that weren't bad enough that lots of people in your town, people around you knew years before you did. Here's Bob McDonald who remember, was having these great phone calls with his newfound sister. He was an odd strategy, if you can even call it that. As Martha grew, she did not look nor act like any other children. Oh, that's a funny question, I. I really. So, no, I didn't because it was always just a rumor. Here is how Mrs. Miller explained that in the letter. And part of it what makes this so strange is that this wasn't the sort of thing where Mrs. Miller figured this to her surprise after decades of wondering and pondering and painstaking detective work. Yeah, what was your room like? And Sue seems eager to know them. And she knew she had to break the news to the McDonalds, who'd raised her. Happy 43rd birthday to you too. Switched at Birth: Created by Lizzy Weiss. The Millers wanted to incorporate her family into our family as quickly as they could. Oh, really good for us. From WBEZ Chicago, it's "This American Life." In fact, when I would go down and have any touch with the McDonalds-- we got introduced to them-- I tried to talk to her about it. IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. 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. And they stay up till all hours of the night talking. more. And I you know, I wanted he had a band, I mean. No, no, no. He is an evangelical preacher, you know, he wants people to know Jesus Christ and that they would be saved. Sue now had four new sisters and two new brothers, and the Millers show her pictures of her other relatives. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. That was her idea. 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. I kind of felt like the like Bob and Kate were kind of keeping me in an arm's distance because they weren't really sure how they felt or wanted to feel. And at any point during this time, does it cross your mind, well, why don't we just ask Mom and Dad about this? By the time she was well, fixing the baby switch problem was that much harder. It was pretty concealed right within our own church. All the Millers were invited and all the McDonalds were to Marty considered whether she should go. If I had as strong a feeling as she did that I had the wrong baby, I would have pursued it. During its run, the show was groundbreaking in that it was one of the first mainstream shows that represented the deaf community and even had deaf actors in the cast. In fact, my mother said, well, just don't tell anybody, you know. I mean, that my kids are all so serious about their life. Our other children were very serious. Miss Miller's husband, the Reverend Norbert Miller, was an evangelical preacher devoted to the church, and they were a bookish, serious bunch. My sister Faith called. And that was odd, very odd. But your father, he's not a doctor. And I really didn't know anything about the McDonalds. Happy 43rd birthday to you, Sue. Until the day, more than 40 years later, when she decided to tell both daughters what happened. Once things calmed down, Sue came to two conclusions. On a summer day in 1951, two baby girls were born in a hospital in small-town Wisconsin. Ruth sat down in a Pew near the front next to Faith. I thought that was such a ridiculous thing to say. When she got on the phone, I was just totally blown away, by the way, she pronounced her words were identical with the way my mother talked. This summer, Bob McDonald's younger son got married in Prairie du Chien. On a summer day in 1951, two baby girls were born in a hospital in small-town Wisconsin. 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. And the family's relationship with Dr. Deslack was no small thing either. And all needed glasses for nearsightedness, Martha did not need glasses. Both children eventually got married and had their own children and grandchildren. And so that's why I started sending them a copy of our Christmas letter.