Baokou Julie Yang and Baonhia Julia Yang are identical twin sisters from Fresno, California and their birth stories take “twinning” to the next level.
These 23-year-old mothers have gone viral after the similarities in their stories had readers doing a double-take. A video posted to Facebook by CBS (which you can view below) has been viewed over 1.3 million times!
Baokou and Baonhia both gave birth to baby girls on the same day, at the same hospital, each unaware that the other was in the next room. The same nurse even helped deliver both girls!
The women found out they were pregnant at the same time and their due dates were just two days apart. But as we know, babies come when they want to and these cousins seemed intent on sharing a birthday. The baby girls – Nadalie Xiong and Candra Thao – were both born a week early and only an hour apart.
Baokou told local paper Bakersfield Now:
“I knew that I was going to be in labor and then I told her and then she was like, ‘I’m having pain here and there too, I might be in there with you too’ and then later on that day, my husband was like, ‘Oh I saw your sister next door.'”
Both babies were born healthy and are spending lots of time together as 3rd-time mom Baonhia (Julie) offers support to new mom Baokou (Julia). The former told People Magazine:
“I think that me and Julia will try our best to ensure that our children know what a close bond she and I have. Hopefully they will get to share that as well.”
A hospital physician, presumably shared by both women, said she did nothing to facilitate the timing – it just happened that way.
“They just had great timing. Very unique timing,” she told CBS in a video story.
But the coincidence of identical twins giving birth early, on the same day, in the same hospital isn’t the only remarkable thing about this story. Both babies are what’s known in some circles as “rainbow babies” – a term used to denote a child born after the tragedy of losing a baby.
According to pregnancy and parenting blog The Bump:
“A rainbow baby is a baby born shortly after the loss of a previous baby due to miscarriage, stillbirth or death in infancy. This term is given to these special rainbow babies because a rainbow typically follows a storm, giving us hope of what’s to come.”
The twins both suffered miscarriages within months of each other prior to giving birth to their new daughters.
Baokou told People:
“My sister and I went through miscarriages together and that definitely brought us closer. Being able to see her, being able to have her be there and keeping me together after our miscarriages was something that was very important to me.”
As you might imagine, the twins’ hospital reunion shortly after giving birth was highly emotional.
“We were just feeling a lot of love and care for each other. We’ve gone through a lot,” Baokou told People.
Scroll down to see the video of the twins and their newborns as they recount their amazing story.
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