Identical twin sisters have given birth on the same day, at the same time, in their respective time zones.
Today.com was first to report that Sarah Mariuz and Leah Rodgers delivered their babies at 1:18 a.m. Thursday. Rodgers’ son, Reid Joseph, was born first, on Mountain time in Denver. An hour later, Mariuz delivered her daughter, Samantha Lynne, on Pacific time in La Jolla, Calif.
Based on data from Stanford’s The Tech Museum of Innovation, this means the newborns will be genetically like half-siblings instead of cousins. The organization states that babies born to identical twins share 25 per cent of their DNA; regular cousins have just 12.5 per cent in common.
The 35-year-old sisters hadn’t planned to be pregnant at the same time but ended up with due dates just four days apart.
The sisters and their babies are both doing well.
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“We’ll definitely spend Christmas together,” Mariuz said to the outlet.
This isn’t the first time twin siblings have given birth around the same time.
Back in 2014, the Daily Mail covered the story of Heather Richardson and Sarah Fidler, then 35, who gave birth within hours of each other.
Speaking to the publication, Fidler said, “‘I honestly didn’t think that I would go into labour at the same time. My contractions started at 1:20 a.m., the exact moment Emelie was born by C-section, and I had Austin at 2:55 p.m. that day.”
Richardson went on to add, “We are really close and have been ever since we were little but I can’t believe this. The staff at all the hospitals involved said they have never heard anything like it.”
– With files from The Associated Press