Our siblings are our first friends as well as our closest confidants. We do everything with them, from chasing each other around the yard to moving into the same neighborhood. This rings true for Christina Santos-Santiago, 27 and Michelle Clarke, 29 of Long Island, New York. These two sisters have done everything together. Santos-Santiago says that when they do things together, “it doesn’t have to be anything big.”
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However, both sisters did something rather large together on Friday March 22nd. Both women gave birth at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside. Christina giving birth to son Nicolas at 11:40 a.m., and Michelle welcoming Savannah at 1:29 p.m. Over the course of both of their pregnancies, the two sisters had both learned that their due dates both aligned with each others, as well as learning that they would both be delivering their children via C-section. That was when the two realized that they wanted to share the special day together. They wanted both babies to share the same birthday. Both sisters even shared the same physician, Dr. Ira Bachman. They approached him about the idea of delivering their children on the same day at the same hospital, and he was all for it.
Michelle said that spending time with her sister before she went in to deliver her baby was important. It also helped her to feel a little better, saying, “She was about to go through the same thing, that made me feel more at ease.” The hospital made certain to put the women in maternity ward rooms right next to each other, which made things easier on their husbands and other family members.
While the C-section procedures had both new mom’s feeling a little sore and immobile, the two sisters had managed to stay close to each other despite being in separate rooms. Michelle added “We were FaceTime-ing.” Santos-Santiago was even able to hear her newborn niece close by and asked her sister “Why is Savannah crying?”
Christina is already a mom to son Jovanni, 4, and Dylan, 2. Michelle is mom to 5 year-old son Jacob.
