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AIBU?

I would have a different child?

152 replies

AugustMummyxo · 27/02/2021 16:45

Saturday afternoon boredom sending me a little crazy....

Just thinking if you and OH had sex an hour/minutes/even seconds later and conceived would the baby be a completely different one to the one you got Hmm

We have a DS but if OH had stayed in the shower just a minute longer that fateful day I could potentially have DD a completely different child if the winning sperm was released at a different time.

Crackers I know, is this a thing?

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MrsTerryPratchett · 27/02/2021 16:47

It's a zillion to one chance to get that child. (Other, more accurate numbers are available.)

Luckily we got the best child in the world so phew.

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GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 27/02/2021 16:52

I have a friend who had three embryos, one implanted and the other two frozen. She got pregnant and had a child. Then a couple of years later they decided to have a second child, implanting both remaining embryos for a better chance. Both implanted and she has twins.

So all three of her children were conceived at the same time and could have been any combination of singleton/twins. IE the eldest could have been one of the frozen ones and been a twin with one of the younger siblings.

Weird. Blows my mind.

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BonesJones · 27/02/2021 16:54

Georgie that's nuts! Really strange and amazing!

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AugustMummyxo · 27/02/2021 16:55

@MrsTerryPratchett

It's a zillion to one chance to get that child. (Other, more accurate numbers are available.)

Luckily we got the best child in the world so phew.

Wow that's interesting to know!

I get stupidly emotional thinking of that and I wouldn't have the DS I have now. Although I realise I would have a different little human who I would adore and not know any different!
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littlepeas · 27/02/2021 16:56

Yes, it's spooky - best not to think too much about it.

It applies to you too - if your parents had done something differently you wouldn't exist!

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toolazytothinkofausername · 27/02/2021 16:57

Did you watch About time on channel 5 this afternoon?

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AugustMummyxo · 27/02/2021 16:58

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat

I have a friend who had three embryos, one implanted and the other two frozen. She got pregnant and had a child. Then a couple of years later they decided to have a second child, implanting both remaining embryos for a better chance. Both implanted and she has twins.

So all three of her children were conceived at the same time and could have been any combination of singleton/twins. IE the eldest could have been one of the frozen ones and been a twin with one of the younger siblings.

Weird. Blows my mind.

Mind blowing!

I wonder how the course of this families life could have been different if another embryo was implanted first. Maybe nothing major, but maybe something big. You just never know do you.
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haggisandmarsbar · 27/02/2021 16:58

Yes, and what's more I did it three times and got the best one available at the time Grin

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AugustMummyxo · 27/02/2021 16:59

@toolazytothinkofausername

Did you watch About time on channel 5 this afternoon?

Not this afternoon but I have watched it a few months ago!

Really loved this film and highlights how everything can change by the smallest action.
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JesusAteMyHamster · 27/02/2021 17:01

I only exist because my mum lost a baby boy when she was seven months pregnant........the baby she lost was unplanned and she'd been done with babies until that happened.

The world keeps turning in strange ways at times. 🤨

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Bumpsadaisie · 27/02/2021 17:03

If it turned out that the winning sperm was disqualified and the silver medallist bumped up to gold then my ds/dd would be quite different!

That's right isn't it? All the sperm are different?

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HangOnToYourself · 27/02/2021 17:03

@littlepeas

Yes, it's spooky - best not to think too much about it.

It applies to you too - if your parents had done something differently you wouldn't exist!

Yeah I think about this alot because then I start to think would a different sperm still have had my consciousness or would I never have existed at all? Then you go down a wormhole of questioning what is consciousness and reality anyway. Does reality exist if you arent a part of it because you would never have known it? It just starts to melt my brain
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marplemead · 27/02/2021 17:04

I think about this too! We conceived DD when when I was working away. It's crazy to think that if I hadn't gone back home to see DH that weekend, we'd have never had our lovely DD. We were TTC so we would have conceived a different child around that time.

I read a book a few years ago where the protagonist gets to live the life she would have had in an alternative reality, but her child is different; a son rather than a daughter. She experiences a huge sense of loss, but grows to love this child too. I want to say that it was the The First Time Lauren Pauling died but I'm not sure it was.

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sashagabadon · 27/02/2021 17:04

Yes and surely even if you had sex at the exact same time etc, if another sperm had got their first, you’d have a completely different child too.
When women say my child is great, but I wish I’d waited a year or two to have my child or the opposite, started having babies younger, I think but you then wouldn’t have the child you have. It would be a completely different one!

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sayanythingelse · 27/02/2021 17:09

I'm glad I'm not the only one who spends their time thinking about things like this! The fact that my body has grown a child with only minimal effort on my part still amazes me sometimes.

Like PP, I was only born because my mum lost the baby she was pregnant with before me. Weird to think that if that pregnancy was successful, I wouldn't be here.

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RoaryMouth · 27/02/2021 17:12

That's what my partner said to me and it changed my whole way of thinking. I was an older mum (through choice) and only have one child. After having my son I started to think we should have started a family earlier so we could have had more than one. But partner pointed out that we would've had a different child at a different time. So no, happy with the one I got so no regrets!

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Fieldsofstars · 27/02/2021 17:13

You’re forgetting that the dna is always split differently. So it could’ve easily been a different child with that same egg and sperm.

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Wonderbrush · 27/02/2021 17:14

I think this too although I don’t have children!

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Candleabra · 27/02/2021 17:17

Mad isn't it. Mind-blowing in fact. I find it overwhelming sometimes, the random things in life that are balanced on a knife edge.

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Eckhart · 27/02/2021 17:18

It struck me the other day that if I wasn't me, I wouldn't be totally different, but quite possibly quite similar to me. I told my brother. He said, 'We've done that, actually, you and I. But a few years apart.'

He and I are really similar. It creeped me out that we are 'alternative possible outcomes' of the same equation, rather than individual entities.

We are all very lucky to be who we are. It was highly unlikely!

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Conkergame · 27/02/2021 17:19

My best friend was only born because her mum had a miscarriage with her previous pregnancy (4th child). I know it sounds awful but I’m so grateful that miscarriage happened as I couldn’t be without my best friend, she’s an absolute gem! Blush

But yes it blows my mind!

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AugustMummyxo · 27/02/2021 17:23

Good to know it's not just me who thinks about these things then 😄.

There's a whole host of things that blow my mind, this being one of them...

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williowrosenburg · 27/02/2021 17:24

We had DD via IVF and we had 6 top graded embryos so the dr had his pick of which one to put back.... so it's weird to think we have DD because the dr picked that particular embryo and he could've easily picked a different one.

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justanotherneighinparadise · 27/02/2021 17:25

I agree. I lost a pregnancy before I fell pregnant three months later with DC2. It blows my mind to think if that pregnancy had been successful DC2 would never exist. Devastating.

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littlepeas · 27/02/2021 17:26

I miscarried my 4th pregnancy and didn’t try again after. I’d delayed ttc by a couple of months for my sister’s wedding (it was my choice to do this) - I sometimes wonder if we’d ttc’d as planned and I’d got pregnant in one of those months (quite likely as always got pregnant first try) whether I would have had a 4th dc.

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