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Original poster

How was I born on the wrong day?

370 replies

PossiblyDreaming · 06/03/2022 23:54

I’ve always thought I was born on a Sunday which always made me feel very smug as a child whenever I saw that nursery rhyme that goes “Monday’s child is fair of face” etc until it gets to Sunday’s child and says how much better kids born on a Sunday are.

Anyway, I was recently filling out some online form where I had to put in my date of birth and it came up on a calendar showing that actually I was born on a Monday. I double checked it with another calendar and, yes, I was definitely born on a Monday. I didn’t think much of it but text my mum to tell her as I thought it was mildly amusing that she’s forgotten when I was born.

Except my mum is 100% adamant that I was born on a Sunday. She remembers it specifically as she made my dad run to the church to drag my grandparents out so that they could watch my brother while he drove her to hospital. My grandparents only ever went to church on a Sunday and my dad was a teacher so if it had been a weekday he wouldn’t have been at home when my mum went into labour. It was mid October so wouldn’t have been a bank holiday. It wasn’t a long labour, I was born a couple of hours later so it wasn’t like my mum was labouring overnight and I was born the next day or anything.

My mum is 70 and fully compos mentis but she can’t get my dad or her parents to corroborate as they’re dead. She is absolutely adamant that I was born on Sunday and now thinks that my birthday was recorded incorrectly and it’s actually the day before the day that I’ve celebrated all my life 😂. I’ve got the original copy of my birth certificate and it says the date that I’ve always thought it was.

I know it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things but it’s really odd. Is there any really obvious way that I’m missing that might confirm either way? Do I now celebrate my birthday the day before even though all my public records show it as being the next day?

OP posts:
Marmite27 · 07/03/2022 06:50

Could it have been an evensong service? Your mum labours early/late evening boom, baby after midnight.

How was I born on the wrong day?
saltedBubbly · 07/03/2022 06:51

Surely your Mum knew what date your birthday was and you celebrated that date as your birthday from your first birthday onwards.

A mistake in the birth certificate is irrelevant- if someone out the wrong date down, making it a Monday - your family would surely still be celebrating the date they knew you were born regardless of what was written in the birth certificate

99point6 · 07/03/2022 06:51

Can you find another way of checking the day of the week? Old newspaper from the day of birth would have Sunday or Monday edition.

ShinyMe · 07/03/2022 06:53

Was it October half term and a church festival?

spotcheck · 07/03/2022 06:54

@huuskymam

Could it have been a religious holiday that had your grand parents in church on Monday and your dad off work.
This...

Or Bible study session or something similar that church people do

BoredBoredBoredB · 07/03/2022 06:54

I say
Blithe and bonny and good and gay

For the last line.
I also think it’s ‘but the child…In the penultimate line for greater emphasis, but not so sure about that.

SheWoreYellow · 07/03/2022 06:55

I wonder if she’s merged the memory with something else, your brother’s birth maybe?
I have a really clear memory that I know is ‘wrong’ because it’s in the wrong house!

MargaretThursday · 07/03/2022 06:55

Dm's mum was always adamant that dm was born on a Wednesday.
One day dm found an old diary and discovered it was a Thursday.

Don't think anything but it was a mistake.

It's possible that in her head the running across to church to fetch grandpa to watch your brother was actually a different occasion which ot mixed up in her head. I'd have thought that was the most likely explanation.
Memory is a funny thing.

MsJinks · 07/03/2022 06:56

Whit Monday there were church parades when I was small - plus it would be half term?

Lottle · 07/03/2022 06:56

I've not read the full thread. This sounds unlikely but I do know someone this happened to. Are you definitely registered for the right birth month? A family member of mine was registered six weeks after birth. The last day you're allowed. Dad went to register and said he was born on the 4th. The registrar assumed it was the 4th of the month they were in rather than the month before. Unlikely but would explain the day's difference....

Pollyputthekettleon1975 · 07/03/2022 06:58

I always get confused with my youngest two as they were both born just after midnight into the following day (I'd spent all the previous day in labour), but you say your mum remembers you being born in the daytime, so that's more confusing.
If you were actually born on a Sunday is it possible they somehow got your birth date wrong? I've never known it happen before, but it would be the only logical explanation if your mum remembers specific details of it being a Sunday.

AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair · 07/03/2022 06:59

@MsJinks

Whit Monday there were church parades when I was small - plus it would be half term?
If it was Whit week in October they really did have a problem with the calendar Grin
SheWoreYellow · 07/03/2022 06:59

No need for online calculators, if you have an iPhone just use the calendar. I presume it’s right.

Interestingly, I’ve just checked my sister’s to see if it was a Saturday or a Sunday, as it was definitely a weekend, my dad was in a different lab at the weekend, and it was actually a Friday! I was only ten, but even so.
I will ask my mum Grin

Spud1130 · 07/03/2022 06:59

The subject of my sons birth came up yesterday and my husbands recollection of it was totally inaccurate. He said he was born, cried, they took him away for checks and then brought him back all cleaned up and brought him to us.

What actually happened was he was born, didn't cry at all (my first thought was is he alive?), was handed to me, placenta delivered, cord cut, I had him, fed him etc. whilst they stitched me up, then they took him for checks and weighed him, dressed him etc.

My husband was adamant his version of events was correct, until I asked him at what stage in his version did he cut the cord?

BoredBoredBoredB · 07/03/2022 07:05

Letters or diaries would be useful, but failing that it’s difficult to pin down whether it’s the day or date.

Original poster
PossiblyDreaming · 07/03/2022 07:09

My mum was in hospital for a week after I was born (no reason, I think that’s just how they used to do things) but is absolutely adamant that I was born on a Sunday. She thinks it more likely that the date is wrong. She’s not one to normally misremember things which is why I messaged her about it in the first place as it was out of character. Brother was born on a Thursday and mum is also certain that is correct as she remembers calling the school my dad worked at when she went into labour and having an argument with the receptionist as she said she’d let dad know when his lesson finished but not before.

It was early October so not a half term or bank holiday. Grandparents could have been at a funeral but it wouldn’t explain why my dad wasn’t at work.

OP posts:
Original poster
PossiblyDreaming · 07/03/2022 07:10

Hospital band might be possible. I certainly remember seeing my hospital band as a child, I’ll see if my mum’s still got it. If the date wasn’t the one I expected I’m sure I’d have noticed it then though.

OP posts:
ninkyno · 07/03/2022 07:10

If it's any consolation @PossiblyDreaming, my husband was born on a Wednesday and that poem is absolutely spot on. Thank your lucky stars.

SwishSwishBisch · 07/03/2022 07:10

Not RTFT so maybe it’s already been suggested but is there any possibility she’s mixing you up with your brother? What day of the week does his birthdate fall on?

Original poster
PossiblyDreaming · 07/03/2022 07:12

@Lottle I think there’s a chance I could’ve been born a day before/ after and it went unnoticed but I really hope someone around me would’ve noticed if it was the wrong month!

OP posts:
Joystir59 · 07/03/2022 07:13

Perhaps the cottage hospital have records you can check

Housinghelp321 · 07/03/2022 07:13

@Ozanj

It probably may have been recorded wrong. 30-40 years ago in some areas babies born on the weekend weren’t registered until the Monday as that’s when the registrar came in. It happened to my brother & a few of my friends and my parents and theirs corroborate it. Dad had to argue to get db’s bc corrected because it was important to mum (for hindu astrology) that the right date was included.
30 years ago? As in 1992? When they had computers and all that. It wasn’t the dark ages! I was born in the 1980s and they managed to record the correct date and exact time.
FantasticFebruary · 07/03/2022 07:16

@Redglitter

My brother was only 3 so no chance he’d remember

He might surprise you. I was 3 when my brother was born. I remember waking up and being surprised to find my Gran in the house & no sign of my Mum & Dad. I remember Dad coming home later and telling me I had a baby brother. We went to a toy shop and bought a Teddy bear and then to the hospital

I remember it all vividly & my recollections are all totally accurate 😊

That's sweet.

I was4 when my brother was born. I was staying at my Nana's. I remember odd bits, but not a lot unfortunately.

However, children at 3/4 are unlikely to remember (or know in the first place) which day of the week it was

I'd look at some actual calendars first, check out 'events' that might have meant days off/church events etc & then hospital records.

Rosesandblossoms · 07/03/2022 07:19

I know someone who’s actual birthday is two days later than what’s on their birth cert. This has been know since childhood, and no-one’s ever bothered to change it! It was simply recorded incorrectly. It’s probably that OP.

QuebecBagnet · 07/03/2022 07:19

The more I think about it the more I think your mum must be wrong. Because say you were always told your birthday is the 15th and that’s what’s on your official records. If you were actually born the day before your official record says, the date you were born on would have been the 14th. So that would mean your mum thinks you were born on the 14th and surely before now she’d have noticed your birth certificate, etc said the 15th? I couldn’t tell you what day of the week Dd was born on but I’m 100% sure of the date!

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