VietNamNet Bridge - Nearly 42 years ago, a woman gave birth to her child at an antenatal clinic in Hanoi. She returned home a day later with a child that she thought not her baby. However, the woman has raised the baby with her love for 42 years.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hanh, 64, in Quan Thanh Street, Hanoi gave birth to a baby girl at the antenatal clinic of Ba Dinh District, Hanoi on October 10, 1974. The baby was numbered 33 at birth, but when she breast-fed her baby for the first time, she discovered the number of the baby was 32. She asked nurses and they said the number was blurred after the baby had been bathed. Nurses confirmed that the baby was her daughter.

Hang believed that there was a mistake and the baby was not hers. Hanh and her husband searched for her real daughter at the clinic. At that time there were 10 infants at the clinic, but no one was numbered 33.

Though she had a premonition that the baby was not her natural baby Hanh and her husband have wholeheartedly loved and cared for the baby, who was named Ta Thi Thu Trang.

In 1998, the longing for her lost offspring prompted Hanh To take DNA tests. And the result confirmed that her premonition was true. The baby was not hernatural daughter. Hanh kept the secret. During recent decades, Hanh repeatedly returned to the maternity clinic to inquire about information but unfortunately the records were no longer archived.

Last October, after many sleepless nights, Hanh decided to speak out in the hope that her daughter can find her biological roots, and also to calm herself.

Hanh said she had not a good sleep at night in the past 42 years. "I have felt tormented and felt sorry for the two families. I am sorry for my husband to lose his blood and I’m sorry for the parents of my daughter, who perhaps don’t know the truth."

Hanh said she hid the truth because she was afraid of losing the daughter she has been raising for the past 42 years.

Knowing the truth from her mother, the mistaken baby – Trang – who is  42 years old now - cried a lot. She is still shocked and cannot believe this is true. "My heart was broken when she said I was not her offspring. We hugged each other and cried. I was both angry and loved her. I was angry because she hid the secret for a long time and I loved her because her love for me is so great," Trang said.

Trang said she had never thought that she was not her parents’ daughter. Compared to the other siblings, her parents have always pampered her more, even when she got married.

In the picture, Ta Thi Thu Trang (second from left - standing) with her siblings and parents.

Trang was always loved by her family but she wondered because she does not look like other siblings or her parents. Her mother said she looked like her aunt. When Trang knew about the secret, she was most afraid of losing her brothers and sisters and especially her mother.

"Every night when I close my eyes, I always wonder who my parents are, what they look like,” Trang said.

Ta Thi Thu Van, 45, the eldest daughter of Ms. Hanh, said, she and other members in the family did not know the truth until Hanh announced last year: "Anyway, we have always considered Trang our sibling and this has not changed. In this story, no one has fault. It is destiny."

Van said her dad had not allowed her mother to do DNA tests. Before he died, he told Hanh to keep the truth to not hurt Trang.

Concerning the case, Mr. Nguyen Viet Cuong, head of the Medical Center of Ba Dinh District, said he had received the letter of Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hanh asking for the center’s help to find her missing daughter. However, as the case occurred a long time ago and the maternity clinic changed its locations several times, the center could not find any documents related to this case.

According to latest news, some nurses working at the clinic in 1974 have been named.

Thu Ly