Nurse Finds Parents’ Old Photo and Is Confused to See Carbon Copy of Her Adopted Daughter with Them – Story of the Day

While cleaning the attic, Karen found an old picture of her young parents. She glanced at it and thought the little girl with them was her. But after observing it, Karen was terrified when she found that the girl in the photo resembled her adopted daughter, Lily.

Karen was a nurse who worked in a maternity hospital in a small town. Getting into this job wasn't easy for her, so she readily accepted it when her close friend referred her to a position there.

Having grown up in an orphanage, Karen felt blessed to have graduated with a degree in nursing through the scholarship and charities that sponsored her education.

One night, she came out of her empty ward to breathe fresh air. She was exhausted since it was her second week on a night shift. She rubbed her eyes, and as she stepped outside, she felt something soft near her foot.

Karen bent down and found a bundle with a onesie peeping out of a little blanket. She opened the swaddle and found a baby. She was shocked. She didn't see anybody across the hallway and realized someone had abandoned the child.

"But who would leave a baby like that?" Karen asked herself. The jolting answer to her question unfolded several years later when she accidentally found an old photo of her parents in the attic…

Karen was stunned when she found a baby abandoned outside the maternity ward she worked. | Source: Unsplash

"How can the world be so cruel? Oh, poor baby…." Karen's colleague shouted after seeing the baby.

Karen carried the baby girl into the ward and checked for any notes in the swaddle, but she found nothing except for a feeding bottle filled with cold milk.

"How can a mother be so cruel and desert her baby?" Karen exclaimed with disbelief. Tears gushed down her eyes. "I'm getting custody of this baby!"

The nurses who worked with Karen were shocked by her decision. They advised her how it would affect her marriage with her fiancé. But Karen knew Sam, her partner, would agree and support her.

Despite her colleagues' advice, Karen decided to adopt the baby girl. | Source: Unsplash

"I don't want her to go through the evil things I endured there," Karen told her colleagues.

The orphanage Karen grew up in was good, but sometimes, the new caregivers turned it into hell for the poor kids there. Even worse, several grown children bullied younger kids. So Karen decided not to give away the baby to an orphanage because she wanted the girl to have a bright future.

She adopted the baby girl, and shortly after, she married Sam. The couple named their adopted daughter Lily. Karen raised Lily with a lot of love and care. Lily went to school and had many friends, and Karen was happy to see her like this.

One day, Sam was out of town on a business trip, and Karen had already retired. Since Lily had gone on a field trip, Karen decided to clean the house. When she was tidying the attic, she found a dusty old box with her certificates and an old picture of her parents.

One day, Karen was cleaning her attic when she found a dusty old box. | Source: Unsplash

She stared at the photo of her young parents closely. She had almost forgotten about it, and since she'd never carefully noticed its details, she was astonished when she discovered something.

"What??? It can't be…Lily with my parents?" Karen shrieked after seeing how the little girl with her parents resembled Lily.

Karen had thought that the girl with her parents was her. But now, she felt something was fishy about Lily's uncanny resemblance with the girl in the picture.

Karen knew where to find the answers and immediately set on a mission to track Lily's biological mother. She went to the maternity hospital she worked several years ago and rummaged through the archives to find out about Lily's birth.

Karen was stunned when she found that the girl with her parents resembled Lily. | Source: Pexels

"No, I guess it must be on this shelf…Can you please bring it down for me?" Karen asked one of the staff in the records room where thousands of birth archives were stored.

Karen estimated that Lily could've been just a week old when she found her, so she looked for records specifically from the week before finding Lily. After a long search, Karen discovered that only one birth was recorded for that week. She checked the details and froze.

"I don't believe this…." Karen muttered in shock.

The record stated that the woman who gave birth to Lily was raised in the same orphanage where Karen was raised. Karen was stunned and rushed to the shelter to learn more about this mysterious woman…

Karen searched for Lily's mother's records in the hospital where she worked. | Source: Pexels

After several years of not wanting to return, Karen visited the orphanage she grew up in. She met a caretaker who seemed kind and requested the documents.

"Yes, I want the records of a woman named Martha," Karen told the staff.

Moments later, Karen was terrified when the staff showed her Martha's records. As it turned out, the woman was admitted to the orphanage on the same day as her.

"W-what the hell is going on?" Karen exclaimed. She was shocked and couldn't understand why she and Martha were given away to the shelter on the same day. "Maybe it's just a coincidence," she told herself.

Just then, an old worker in the orphanage met Karen. The person knew Karen's parents well, but since she monitored a different part of the shelter, she didn't have any contact with Karen. The woman showed Karen an old picture and revealed a shocking truth about her family.

Karen couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the photo. It was the same picture of her young parents with a little girl. But the thing was, the girl in the photo was not Karen. It wasn't Lily either. It was Martha, Karen's older sister.

Several questions hounded Karen. She burst into tears, knowing she and her sister were raised together under the same roof yet never met. The old worker then revealed more jolting details about her childhood and why she couldn't be with Martha.

Martha was Karen's older sister & she grew up in the same orphanage. | Source: Unsplash

"You were brought to this orphanage just two hours after your older sister," the person disclosed. "Your parents had met with an accident."

Karen was shocked and asked why she wasn't there with Martha and their parents in the picture. The shelter keeper then told her that she was mostly kept away due to Martha's health issues.

"You two were raised separately in the same house, but I don't know more about the reasons...Only your parents know the secret, and unfortunately, they've taken it to the grave with them," the woman revealed.

After Lily returned from her school trip, Karen told her everything. She was afraid of how Lily would take it, but surprisingly, she was happy and excited.

"You're the best mom in this world, and being your sister's daughter has just made things stronger between us!" Lily told Karen, flooding her with emotions and tears of joy!

After knowing the truth about her birth, Lily told Karen that she was the best mother. | Source: Pexels

What can we learn from this story?

• Sometimes, you can never guess what fate might gift you. Karen adopted Lily because she didn't want the girl raised in an orphanage. She wanted Lily to have a better life. However, she was surprised when she discovered that the girl was also her niece.
• It's good to get over your past and only focus on your future. Karen's childhood in the orphanage was unpleasant, so she didn't want to return there. But she had to visit the place to find answers to her questions about Lily's mother. She discovered that Lily was her sister Martha's daughter, so she realized that she'd saved more than just a baby years ago.

If you liked reading this story, here's one about how a woman who kicked her pregnant daughter out onto the street froze after discovering her orphaned granddaughter.

This account is inspired by our reader's story and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Please share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you want to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.