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When Stephanie Simpson went into labor with her twin girls at just 21 years old, she expected a whirlwind delivery and two babies born minutes apart. Instead, her daughters arrived four and a half hours apart—on different days.
In a now-viral TikTok with 6.6M views, the Alberta mom explains how her first baby, Madilyn, was born just before midnight on January 15, while her sister, Haven, didn’t make her debut until 4:24 a.m. on January 16. The unusual gap wasn’t an emergency; it was a deliberate choice that left Simpson grateful for her medical team’s patience.
The birth story that surprised everyone
In her TikTok (@stephsimpson3), Simpson shared that her daughters are di/di twins—short for “dichorionic diamniotic”—meaning they each had their own amniotic sac and placenta. This type of twin pregnancy often gives doctors more flexibility in managing labour, since each baby has an independent environment in the womb.
For Simpson, that meant Baby A, Madilyn, could arrive first at 11:50 p.m., while doctors kept a close watch on Baby B, Haven. “I tried so hard to push baby B out but she wouldn’t come,” Simpson told Newsweek. “My OB did not want me to have a vaginal delivery and a c-section, so we decided to wait her out. At 4:24 a.m. on January 16, she finally came.” Looking back, Simpson says she was shocked at how long the process took. “I literally thought I would be there for a couple hours,” she explained to Newsweek. But she credits her care team for reassuring her and allowing her body to follow its own timeline.
Related: Mom surprises her grandparents with twin pregnancy—50 years after they had twins of their own
Why doctors sometimes wait
While many twin deliveries happen minutes apart, doctors don’t always rush the second baby. According to research published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, the median time between twin deliveries is about 19–30 minutes, though some second twins may take longer to arrive.
When both babies remain stable, waiting a few hours—like in Simpson’s case—can be safe under careful monitoring. Longer intervals can increase the likelihood of interventions, such as cesarean delivery, if complications arise.
What people are saying
TikTok users were captivated not just by the timeline, but by the relatable mix of surprise, patience, and celebration that comes with twins arriving on separate days. Many parents shared their own experiences or imagined how they might handle a similar scenario, marveling at the flexibility of modern obstetric care and the calm presence of Simpson’s medical team.
- “Imagine twins born at midnight on new years from1999-2000.” — @sophiebbear0
- “Baby B was in there relaxing.” — @machandriapeters
- “My uncles were born on two different days, have two different signs and were born in two different seasons.” — @michaela.mcdonald94
- “My kids bdays are 12/15 & 12/16. But … they are 3 years, 3 hours, 33 minutes apart.” — @dahmanda
Simpson says most people she tells are amazed. “Twins have to share a lot of things but my daughters don’t share their birthdays,” she told Newsweek.
Related: Dad learns he’s having twins—his reaction is an emotional rollercoaster
Reflection for moms
Every birth story has its own surprises—and sometimes, those surprises make the best family legends. For Simpson, having twins with different birthdays is a reminder that motherhood rarely follows a script, and that patience can shape a positive outcome.
Source:
- BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 2018. “The effect of twin-to-twin delivery time intervals on neonatal outcome for second twins.”
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