'I accidentally married my cousin': Pregnant Utah woman and her husband discover that they're actually related, while searching for familial baby names online

While pregnant with their first child, Marcela and her husband were both searching online for baby names that might run in the family. When they were both browsing online on their respective computers they noticed some strange similarities. 

“So I've never told anyone publicly that I accidentally married my cousin”

u/beingmarcellahill

Naturally, the pregnant Marcela and her baby-daddy-to-be couldn't imagine the possibility of their horrifying inbred reality, so Marcela rationalized that she must be logged in on her account on her husband's computer… because that would be more palatable than the truth. After taking a closer look at the account information and cross referencing generations of familial lineage, they realized the inevitable. 

This is the “oh sh*t” moment in marriage that most people are happily about to avoid if they've ever left the small town of 100 people that they were born in. However, in Utah, apparently it's not so simple. Perhaps it would have been wise to do all of this family searching BEFORE you start seriously dating someone, so that you can weed out potential cousins. Prevention is better than the consequences of finding out too late.

After their realization, still reeling in doubt and hopefulness that the Family Search website could be incorrect, they called their respective grandparents who were allegedly cousins to confirm the news. “So he calls his grandma and i call my grandpa and we ask them if they know each other,” Marcella explained. You can tell in her confessional video that there's still a tinge of awkwardness when recalling the story. She added, “Sure enough, they sure do.” 

“[Our grandparents] lived together when they were growing up as children. We are 3rd cousins.”

Marcela admitted in later videos that her first concern was their unborn child. They immediately Googled the potential birth defects associated with having a child with your third cousin (a cursed search that nobody ever thinks they'll have to look up), and they saw that there shouldn't be any problems with their future children. Frankly, I think I'd still be sketched out even if Google told me it was okay. 

Marcela tries to be positive about the situation, but you can see a touch of panic behind her eyes even years later as she tells this story. Something about this confession feels a lot like an overshare moment that could have easily been avoided. However, the cat's cousin is out of the bag and the whole world knows that Marcela Hill married her family relative. 

CONFESSION