Two California sisters who unexpectedly became pregnant at the same time and gave birth 20 minutes apart celebrated their daughters’ first birthdays with a memorable photo shoot.
Corey Struve Talbott, 32, and her younger sister, Katie Struve Morgan, 30, found out they were both expecting during the 2015 holiday season, ABC News reported.
READ: Twins Who Were Once Conjoined Celebrate Their First Birthday Apart
Talbott initially planned to wait until Christmas to surprise her family with the news that she was expecting her second child, she told Cosmopolitan. But, she couldn’t help but tell her younger sister ahead of schedule.
Morgan then shared with Talbott that she was also pregnant – with her third child.
“I almost passed out because I couldn’t believe it,” Talbott told ABC News.
The sisters shared the news with their family together on Christmas, and their pregnancy journeys would continue to intertwine.
Talbott and Morgan sported matching off-the-shoulder turquoise dresses and flower crowns for a joint a pregnancy photoshoot with Monterey-based photographer Brenden Boggs.
Then, on Aug. 10, they gave birth just one room and minutes apart to “twin cousins” Ryatt Raegan Talbott and Indie Mae Morgan.
The birth was unexpected for Talbott, she said.
Talbott recalled the doctor, who also treated his sister, saying, “Why don’t you come in, you’re going to come see your sister anyway, we’ll check you out and if you’re in labor, I’m going to do your C-section today.”
Morgan told ABC News that the experience was “surreal.”
“Corey was on her way to [take] photos for me [at the hospital] and I hadn’t seen her and I’m like, ‘Where is she?’” Morgan said. “And she comes in fully gowned with her IV and she’s like, ‘I’m sorry, I have to have Ryatt! She’s coming!'”
Talbott said it was “one of the greatest” experiences to be pregnant at the same time with her sister and even better during the recovery phase when they were able to provide moral support to each other.
The sisters live only 5 minutes apart, so it’s natural that their daughters have become close. They even have a joint Instagram account with coordinating nicknames.
It’s been so much fun,” Morgan said.
To celebrate the girls’ first birthdays, the mothers enlisted Boggs’ help for another photoshoot. Talbott and Morgan wore the same dresses and flower crowns, but their held their babies in their arms rather than in their bellies.
The cousins have “opposite personalities,” just like their mothers, Morgan said.
“My sister is more like the leader or outspoken one and I’m the quiet, mellow one and our babies are the complete opposite,” Morgan said. “[My daughter Indie is] very loud and takes charge and her daughter [Ryatt] is very quiet and soft and goes with the flow.”
Talbott joked that she and her sister will do the photoshoot every year for the girls’ birthdays, and that their daughters will have to do “everything together their whole lives.”
(H/T: ABC News)