Shauna Wheeler, 41, and Ivy Chichester, 37, seem destined to experience pregnancy at the same time.
Their first children were born one week apart. When the two Virginia-based best friends found out they were pregnant at the same time again, they were shocked.
“A week before (Ivy) actually confirmed she was pregnant she was saying she might be pregnant,” Wheeler tells “I kind of snickered, because I feel like people always think that, but at the time it had been so early for her to have symptoms for real.”
“I disagree,” Chichester tells. “I felt that egg implant.”
“I was over here like, ‘OK girl, whatever,’” Wheeler responds. “But she was right and I was wrong.”
Chichester says her pregnancy wasn’t planned and she had many “mixed emotions” about the idea of having another child, so Wheeler told her friend to just “give it a couple days” and “don’t stress yourself out.”
One week later, Chichester confirmed the pregnancy and told her “mom tribe” she was pregnant. What Chichester didn’t know was that Wheeler suspected she might be pregnant as well.
“It prompted me to go directly home and test,” Wheeler says. “Sure enough, I was. That line was the pinkest I’ve ever seen it — it was prominent.”
‘The fact that we’re doing this together can help both of us’
After confirming her pregnancy, Wheeler told her dear friend she was pregnant too.
Chichester says. “I think we were able to encourage each other and keep it real.”
Wheeler had a C-section scheduled on Dec. 13, 2022, while Chichester planned on giving birth vaginally sometime in early December.
During a routine check-up appointment during the first week of December, Wheeler says her blood pressure was high and her doctor had concerns.
Instead of going home, Wheeler was sent to labor and delivery for monitoring; her delivery date moved up to Dec. 5, 2022. Wheeler then told her friends she was going to have her baby earlier than planned.
“I had my baby at 3:41 p.m. on 12/5,” Wheeler says. “The next day I was recovering and Ivy was supposed to come visit. A couple hours later, Ivy called and said: ‘I’m at the hospital!’ My husband said: ‘They said she can’t visit.’ I said: ‘Um, she’s in labor.’”
Chichester was admitted to the hospital around 7 p.m. that day, and had her baby, a boy, on Dec. 7 at 4:56 in the morning.
The coincidences with the two best friends don’t stop there. Wheeler gave birth to her now 2-year-old daughter just one week before Chichester welcomed her son into the world. In addition to having both sets of children close in age, Wheeler’s birthday is the same day as Chichester’s sister’s birthday.
“We’ve always had these little connection points, so of course our babies would have similar birth dates,” Chichester says.
Both friends had joked about potentially being at the hospital around the same time, but never thought it would actually happen — let alone two rooms away from each other.
“I told her I’d come to her,” Wheeler says. “I put my baby into the little bassinet, pushed her two doors down to visit. We put the babies next to each other and said: ‘This is your first friend, say hello!’”
