On October 29, Amber Tramontana and Autum Shaw celebrated their 33rd birthday. However, they have more reasons to celebrate that day: two baby girls, to be exact. Amber and Autum have done things together but didn't expect childbirth would be one of them, although they are both happy that they did.
The identical twins gave birth just 90 minutes apart at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville. Tramontana told Good Morning America that they knew Autum, who was in a neighboring room, delivered after hearing a faint cry. Her husband, Jim, then knocked on the wall to congratulate Shaw and her husband, Scott.
"Ninety minutes later," Tramontana said, "We deliver, and they returned the same knock." Tramontana gave birth to her daughter, Blakely James, at 6 p.m. He weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces. Meanwhile, Autum's daughter, Charleston Scott, weighed 9 pounds, 4 ounces.
They did everything together, their entire lives
Describing their bond as sisters, Shaw said that they had done everything together, their entire lives. "We went to nursing school together," she told GMA, "we were pregnant with our boys together at the same time and for the delivery of our girls."
Their sons, who are now two years old, were born ten weeks apart and had the same weight and length, a WATE report said. However, Shaw said that they did not plan on being pregnant at the same time. Shaw had difficulties conceiving while she had a miscarriage last December 2019. They would then later learn that they are both expecting baby girls and both due on their birthday.
Speaking to WATE, Autumn said they didn't understand God's plan or why it happened. "We knew that it was common," she said, "but we knew he had a bigger plan, and we just trusted that plan."
Delivering on their birthday was not planned
Amber said that while they wanted the kids to have the same experience growing up and wanted to have babies close together, they didn't plan it to be this close. Dr. George Vick was also amazed and said that he had not seen anything like it in his 45 years of practice. He said it was unusual to find out that the twins have the same due date.
She told WATE that they didn't understand God's plan for them or why it happened to them. And while they knew that it was common, they also know that God had a bigger plan, and they just trusted that plan.
"Double the sweetness and double the love!" wrote Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center on their Facebook page, sharing the twins' photos with their daughters. "It was a special day," they added, "when identical twins Autum and Amber delivered their baby girls, Charleston and Blakely, within 90 minutes of each other. To top it all off, it was Autum and Amber's birthday!"
Now that the family will have four birthdays to celebrate on the same day, Tramontana and Shaw are now looking forward to having joint parties.
