Greatest Days of our Lives Baby-swappings Throughout the Years

Days is no stranger to the baby swap storyline.

For years, Days of our Lives has made residents of the town extremely nervous about the parentage of their children – but at least all these lost (and found) kids will have plenty of company in therapeutic support groups. Since Xander recently swapped Sarah and Eric’s dead baby girl Mickey for Brady and Kristen’s baby girl Rachel, and the cat is almost out of the bag, Soaps.com decided to take a look at some of the more infamous bouncing baby stories the show has told over the years…

Beauregard “Zack” Brady

Birth parents: Hope and Bo Brady
Other parents: Abe and Lexie Carver

What happened? Born in 2000, Zack was Abe and Lexie’s son, adopted from a young woman named Marlo. But beware all sheep who come in DiMera clothing: It was Stefano DiMera who got the Carvers in touch with Marlo in the first place, and it was Stefano who swapped Hope and Bo’s child with Marlo’s! Talk about a double blind.

The ruse is revealed: Lexie learned fairly early on that Zack was Hope’s child (Hope was by now raising Marlo’s baby and calling him J.T.), but couldn’t bear to give him up. When the boys were 2, paternity tests revealed that J.T. was really Marlo’s child. Lexie couldn’t bear to give up Zack, and went on the run. In the end, Hope was reunited with her son (though at the time they didn’t know Bo was the father).

How’s things today? Poor Zack: He was mown down by his half-sister Chelsea, who was driving recklessly. Bo and Hope took him off life support and his liver went to his niece Claire.

More: The Horton Family and their connection to Salem

Grace McCormick & Sydney DiMera

Birth parents: Chad Woods and Mia McCormick
Birth parents: Sami Brady and E.J. DiMera

What happened? Brace yourself for the big “Sydnapping”! In 2009, Sami and Nicole Walker were both pregnant with babies from E.J. DiMera, but Nicole miscarried (while still pretending to be pregnant). Her plan was to adopt Mia McCormick’s baby and pass it off as E.J.’s – but then she got lucky: Sami and Mia gave birth on the same day in the same clinic, and Nicole was able to switch Sami’s child with Mia’s. (It helps when you’re the one doing the delivery, which is what Nicole did for Mia.) Sami had been in the witness protection program during her pregnancy and decided not to tell E.J. about their baby, leaving Grace at an orphanage for a few months. Finally, she brought her home and told everybody Grace was her “adopted” daughter.

The ruse is revealed: Sadly, Grace died from bacterial meningitis that June – and eventually Sami fessed up to E.J. that he was Grace’s biological father. Things began to unravel after that – which put Sydney’s (E.J. and Sami’s biological child) living situation in jeopardy.

How’s things today? Sami and E.J. spent a whole lot of time and money in custody battles over Sydney, which ended after they reunited. E.J. was killed in 2014, and Sami moved with her children away from Salem. She and E.J. were reunited when Dr. Rolf brought him back to life.

Tate Black

Birth parents: Brady Black and Theresa Donovan
Surrogate: Kristen DiMera

What happened? Theresa had great pregnancy news to share with her estranged boyfriend Brady – but before she could spill to him, Kristen DiMera – Brady’s ex-fiancée – overheard her talking to a pal, and schemed a way to get that baby … before it was even born! (You’d think pregnant folks would avoid the DiMera clan like the plague by now.) Kristen had Theresa kidnapped and her embryo transferred into her own body so that she could have Brady’s child. After the procedure, Kristen left town and left Theresa very confused.

The ruse is revealed: In 2015 fans saw the baby for the first time: Little Christopher was born in Italy – but had an autoimmune disorder that requires a bone marrow transplant. Melanie and Brady ended up in Italy to retrieve the child, who Kristen tried to claim was Daniel’s. But Brady insisted on a paternity and maternity test. In the ensuing kerfuffle, Theresa showed up, was drugged (again!) by Kristen for the bone marrow procedure, and then Marlena ended up pushing Kristen through a glass window over the Horton square. (Spoiler: She didn’t die.)

How’s things today? Christopher came home with Brady and was renamed Tate. Eventually Theresa won sole custody of the baby and moved to California.

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