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Sisters gave birth 90 minutes apart after sharing pandemic pregnancy experience
Dec 29, 2020, 6:03 AM | Updated: 6:46 am
Ashley and John Carruth and Joe and Brittany Schille (left to right) hold their newborn sons Cassius John Carruth and Zander Paul Schille. Permission to use the photos on all platforms and affiliates in perpetuity. Made one time use so the photo doesn't accidentally get grabbed for an unrelated story.
(left to right)
(CNN) — After going through their pandemic pregnancies together, two Minnesota sisters thought it would be pretty neat if they ended up giving birth on the same day.
Their baby boys apparently agreed and arrived earlier this month about 90 minutes apart.
Ashley Carruth told CNN that she and her sister Brittany Schille found out that they were pregnant in April, as their state was locking down because of the coronavirus pandemic. Their due dates were just a few days apart, Carruth said.
The sisters live about 20 minutes apart in the Twin Cities area and were able to see each other regularly during their pregnancies.
“We definitely stayed connected and close,” she said.
Carruth went into labor at about 2 a.m. on December 14, the day her sister was scheduled to be induced. They texted back and forth during the delivery and Carruth said it was a real comfort to have her big sister nearby at M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville.
At one point, Carruth was able to pop into her sister’s room.
“I did get to say hi, and see her, and we both just gave each other a sweet look,” she said. “It’s like those moments you think about when you’re a little girl happening in such a special way, so it was very, very emotional for both of us.”
Hospital staff was able to put them in delivery rooms that were right next to each other and they had the same doctor and many of the same nurses.
“They were like, ‘So are you taking bets on who’s gonna who’s gonna go first?'” Carruth said. “Everybody was just laughing and it definitely was really funny.”
Her son, Cassius John Carruth was born first, followed by Zander Paul Schille — named after the sisters’ father Paul, who died of cancer in 2016.
“He just was such an important man in our life and just so special to us,” Carruth said. “We definitely felt like this was kind of his little gift to us.”
The timing felt like a little wink from her dad and a reminder that he was looking down on them, Carruth said.
“It just seemed like something that he would do,” she said. “We really felt God’s presence and his presence throughout the whole labor and delivery hospital stay experience that could have been really scary and really weird with COVID, and no visitors, and no family able to come in besides your spouse or your partner.”
Zander is Schille’s first child. Cassius has a 3-year-old sister, who’s already helping change diapers and reading books to her little brother.
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