Thirty-three years ago, twin sisters Danielle Grant and Kim Abraham were born one minute apart. Growing up, they wore matching outfits and participated in many of the same activities. Now they’re both married and live just minutes apart from each other in Toms River. The sisters have something else in common: They discovered they were pregnant on the same day, had the same due dates, and both delivered healthy baby boys on the same day, just one room apart, at Ocean Medical Center.

Side By Side At Every Step

Danielle, who also has a 3-year-old daughter, and Kim were still pregnant a week past their due dates, so both sisters had to be induced. “Ideally, we want patients to go into labor naturally, but when that doesn’t happen, we recommend inducing labor in the 41st week due to an increased risk for complications if pregnancies continue beyond that,” says Diane DiTusa, D.O., an OB/GYN affiliated with Ocean who delivered Kim’s baby.

On April 28, 2017, Danielle gave birth to her baby, Roman. Just a few hours later, Kim delivered her baby, Aaron. Danielle was able to be in the room with her sister when Aaron was born. “The care we received at Ocean was amazing,” Danielle says. “The nurses didn’t make it seem like this was just something they did every single day; they made it feel special for us.” “Every nurse who came into my room had another piece of advice to offer me as a new mom that I found to be so helpful, whether it was for breastfeeding, swaddling or assuring me that I would eventually feel better and get through the pain of having an almost 10-pound baby,” Kim says.

“When it was time to go, I was kind of sad they couldn’t come home with me.”

Sister Support

Today, the sisters marvel at how their nephews, who’ve spent much of their first year together, are increasingly interacting with each other. “We often put the boys in a double stroller, and people stop to ask us if they’re twins,” Kim says. “From the first trimester, throughout our pregnancies and now having our babies, it’s been the best support system going through this together,” Danielle says. “It was a total coincidence but couldn’t have worked out better if we’d tried.”

Beautiful Beginnings

When you choose Hackensack Meridian Health for your maternity care, you can trust that our expert team will be there every step of the way. Learn how we support healthy deliveries at HackensackMeridianHealth.org/Maternity.