World News – The identical twins, who are 35, each gave birth to their first child early Thursday. The babies were born at the same exact time in each sister’s respective time zone — Rodgers gave birth first, welcoming a baby boy at 1:18 a.m., in Denver, Colorado, and Mariuz’s daughter was born at 1:18 a.m., in La Jolla, California.
The sisters and new moms told TODAY they’re thrilled by the coincidence, if not all that surprised.
“We’ve always lived in separate places, but all of us — we have two sisters — are very close in age and very close,” Rodgers said. “But certainly there’s another connection at the twin level.”
The sisters learned they were pregnant last year around the same time and planned to tell each other on Thanksgiving, which they were celebrating together. But as soon as Rodgers saw her sister, she already knew.
“She showed up to my front door and I welcomed her and Nick [Mariuz’s husband] inside,” said Rodgers, an education strategist for Dell. “And I had this crazy twin intuition — I call it my ‘twintuition’ — and I knew she was pregnant, too.”
Mariuz didn’t break the news right away, though; she let her sister, older by 11 minutes, go first.
“I wanted Leah to have her moment of sharing her news, rather than me just saying, ‘Me too!'” Mariuz told TODAY.
But after learning their due dates were only four days apart, she had to come clean.
“I ran down the hallway and got the ultrasound pic out of my purse and slapped it down next to Leah’s,” said Mariuz, who works in medical sales. “We were jumping up and down, just so happy for each other. Everyone was just in shock.”
That disbelief continued throughout their pregnancies, especially when people learned the sisters hadn’t planned to have kids at the same time.
“We were at our older sister’s wedding recently, and, well, two pregnant chicks together, people couldn’t stop talking about this,” Rodgers said. “They kept asking us, ‘Was it planned?’ No! It was kind of entertaining.”
Even their babies’ genders are remarkable, the sisters said.
“It’s kind of funny because I grew up as a tomboy, playing sports,” said Rodgers, who named her boy Reid Joseph.
Her sister, whose little girl is Samantha Lynne, was the girlier twin.
The moms and babies are home from the hospital and doing well, and the families are trying to work out a time to visit each other.
“We’ll definitely spend Christmas together,” Mariuz said.
Rheana Murray, TODAY
