Those first days in the hospital after my son was born are a bit of a blur. I was sore, sleep deprived and getting to know this new baby, who was mine, but still a complete stranger. I remember the nurses checking and double checking our hospital bracelets when I picked him up from the nursery after taking a shower, and thinking, “Oh, come on, I know that one’s mine. Sure, he’s new, but I’d recognize those piercing dark blue eyes anywhere.” (Now, his eyes are dark brown, but still intense.) But at the same time, I was kind of relieved they were checking because, honestly, my mind wasn’t exactly with-it, and, well, newborns look a lot alike. No one wants a mix up.

But, mix ups do occasionally happen — in fact, one did this week at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Apple Valley, Minnesota. New mom Tammy Van Dyke says her newborn son, Cody, was placed in the wrong bassinet and taken to another mother’s room, and that the other mother breastfed him, according to KARE 11 in Minneapolis.

Reportedly, the other mother told a nurse  ”I don’t think this is my baby,” and the nurse told her it was, and that she was just tired. After the feeding, the mother saw that the baby’s bracelet was not her child’s. Both women underwent tests for HIV and hepatitis after the incident.

Thursday, Abbott Northwestern Hospital released a statement that said:

“Yesterday morning at Abbott Northwestern Hospital an infant was taken from the newborn nursery to the wrong room and was briefly breastfed by a woman who is not this infant’s mother. While hospital procedures require staff to match codes on the infant’s and mother’s identification bands in order to prevent incidents like this, it appears these procedures were not followed in this case.”

Scary! It just goes to show, even in those first days, you do have mother’s intuition, but it’s worth it to do some double checking — trust your gut, and check the bracelet.

What do you think of the baby mix-up story? Was the mother at fault? Or the nurses or both?

Plus, more from The Bump:

Top 10 Breastfeeding Tips for New Moms

Tool: Breastfeeding Log

What Will My Newborn Look Like?

The Pitch Perfect and Hunger Games actress welcomed baby #2, son Magnus Mitchell via gestational surrogate with husband Max Handelman!

Elizabeth announced the news on her website today:

“As 2012 winds down and Thanksgiving approaches, I have much for which to be thankful – personal, professional, and Presidential. However, nothing can match the joy and excitement my husband and I felt when we recently welcomed our second baby boy, Magnus Mitchell Handelman.

This experience has exceeded all expectations, taught us a great deal about generosity and gratitude, and established a relationship that will last a lifetime. . . . I now turn my attention to managing two boys under two. For which I am thankful. And all their poop. For which I am less thankful. Wish me luck.”

Magnus joins older brother Felix, who was born in March 2011, also via gestational surrogate. Elizabeth and Max have been married since 2003.

Congrats to the happy couple!

Plus, more from The Bump:

Newborn Basics

Celebs We’d Hire to Babysit

Two Under Two Message Board

You’ve probably heard the rumor: Breastfeeding will make your boobs sag. Not, so says a new study! In fact it says nursing baby can actually prevent your breasts from looking older as you get older.

The study, funded by the Aesthetic Surgery Education and Research Foundation, observed 161 pairs of twins. In the first part of the study, each set of twins answered a questionnaire on lifestyle habits, such as smoking, drinking, number of pregnancies, use of a bra, stress at work, sports, hormone replacement therapy, moisturizing and exposure to the sun. Then, the twins had their breasts photographed. The photos were evaluated by researchers, who noted traits like skin tone, droopiness, shape and areola size.

Using this data, researchers searched for common lifestyle habits between those who had what they considered younger-looking breasts. Researchers found that breastfeeding, as well as moisturizing and going through hormone replacement therapy post-menopause had a positive affect on breast appearance.

This surprised several researchers, since pregnancy and childbirth have been known to cause sagging in the breasts. But Dr. Hooman T. Soltanian, one of the lead researchers, believes that breastfeeding changes the hormones in a woman’s body, and that could slow the breasts’ aging process.

“Women who breastfed have a different hormonal milieu, sort of like internal hormone replacement,” Soltanian says.

Do you think pregnancy and/or breastfeeding changed your boobs?

Plus more from The Bump:

11 Things You Didn’t Know About Breastfeeding

Worst Breastfeeding Advice — Ever!

How Breastfeeding Changes as Baby Gets Older