When Joshua Thorington’s wife Denise gave birth to their first child, Jack, in Traverse City, Michigan, their families naturally wanted to see the baby. However, when Joshua received no contact from his twin brother Justin or Justin’s pregnant wife Alex, he started to worry.
Joshua said, “We were always best friends. My mom said that even before we could talk we were so close that we had our own language. Even from an early age we were close and inseparable. We never wanted to be away from each other.”
Thirty-three year old twin brothers Joshua and Justin, who were born a mere a minute apart, were thrilled when they discovered that their wives were expecting babies at the same time. Joshua subsequently told that it was a completely coincidence. “Neither of us knew the other was trying,” he said.
After Justin and Alex, then 31, had announced their pregnancy, they’d held a party to celebrate. Denise, 30, was also very keen to start a family. And following Justin and Alex’s announcement, she’d been inspired to take a pregnancy test.
Denise then discovered that she was in fact already pregnant. Moreover, she also found out that her due date was actually prior to that of Alex. “Josh and I have shared pretty much every experience together growing up as twins,” Justin explained. “So it felt kind of natural.”
According to Alex, the simultaneous pregnancies were an experience that brought the wives of the twins closer together, “We were obviously excited for them when we found out that they were pregnant,” she told. “It was cool to have an experience like that where we could go through it together.”
“I think it brought us closer together, especially Denise and I, having that same experience,” Alex continued. “It was a nice way to connect us a little more, too.” Nonetheless, no-one expected to find out that Justin and his wife were themselves in hospital on the day of Jack’s birth.
However, Alex was actually also in labor and had been admitted to the same hospital. Joshua said, “I thought it was kind of weird that they weren’t coming up. Then he’s like, ‘Hey, we’ll come see you. But just so you know, Alex is in labor.”
It was something they’d joked about throughout the pregnancies, in fact, with Joshua explaining that the twins had always been “pretty in sync.” “We knew it was within the realm of possibility,” Justin told. “But we never would have expected it to actually happen.”
The jokes continued in the delivery room when, at 10:30 p.m., Justin commented, “Alex, you got an hour and a half if you want to get the same birthday.” Alex subsequently gave birth to Lucy Elise at 11:43 p.m. just across the corridor from where Jack had been born.
Denise had been admitted to Munson Medical Center at 6:30 a.m. the day after her due date. She’d subsequently given birth to Jack Andrew at 4:18 a.m. But Justin hadn’t found out about the new arrival until after Alex had gone into labor.
Alex went to hospital on the morning, as she believed that she was in labor. Her water broke shortly after noon the same day, and she gave birth to a healthy baby girl at 11.43 pm, despite not being due for another ten days.
“My wife gave birth first, so after she recovered, my wife was giving Alex advice on her experience,” Joshua told. “She said it was really incredible that it happened – especially given how far apart their due dates were. They’re very happy about it, and they think it’s fun.”
So, after becoming pregnant at the same time, childbirth turned out to be another experience that Alex and Denise could share. “Denise and I both married into the family,” Alex told. “And it’s a huge family, so we have a unique bond and experience that we can share about now raising kids in this big, fun family.”
And everyone concerned seemed pleased that Jack and Lucy had been born on the same day. Justin told that he thought it would make the two families closer as they’ll be able to “go through this experience as parents together and learn from each other.”
The brothers’ mother, Lisa Thorington, that twins were common in the family. She also said that the whole clan was “over the top” at the news. “The twins are extremely close, so on some level it just makes perfect sense,” she added.
Justin later told that he hoped Jack and Lucy would remain close, “It was a really cool experience to have the cousins born on the same day, together for the first time,” he said. “I started to think that this was their first experience of many that they will share for the rest of their lives.”
“I hope they can be there for each other to lean on through hard times and share the joys of all the good things that will happen in their lives,” Justin added. “I hope they can be best friends like Josh and I.”
“We always had someone to play with, to experience new things together with, and just someone familiar.” Josh agreed. “We’ve never known what it’s like to not be a twin. I hope that Jack and Lucy will feel as close as we are.”
Speaking to Fox News, Justin said, “It’s been crazy how much attention it’s been getting. At first, it didn’t really hit me how unique this was, maybe because I’m a twin. But the more I think about it, the more I realize how special it is.”