Organized Labor

ST. HENRY - As Emma Guggenbiller was preparing to be induced into labor at 7 p.m. May 4, she texted her also pregnant twin sister Leah Nietfeld to keep her up-to-date.

The 25-year-old twins were due within four days of each other. But at 7 p.m. May 4, Nietfeld sent Guggenbiller an update of her own: her water had broken. She was going into labor.

In a twist of fate, Guggenbiller and Nietfeld both gave birth to baby girls on the same day at the same hospital by the same doctor.

The twins said they gave birth on May 5 at Mercer County Community Hospital in Coldwater under Dr. Eric Seward's care. Nietfeld's daughter Eden was born first at 11:08 a.m., and about eight hours later Guggenbiller's daughter Georgia followed suit at 7:33 p.m.

"Everyone kept saying we were going to give birth on the same day, but we didn't believe that was going to happen," Nietfeld said. "So it was crazy."

Guggenbiller said as she was getting admitted to the hospital, a nurse called her aside.

"That just seemed like something was up," she said. "My husband is chilling, waiting for me to come back, and my phone kept blowing up. I'm like 'Who's texting me right now?' And it was Leah, with four texts like 'I think my water broke, maybe not, oh no, it definitely did.' So when the nurse came back in, she had this smirk on her face because Leah had called up to the nurse to tell her she was coming up."

Guggenbiller said the nurses who worked with them during their pregnancies often joked they would have their daughters on the same day.

"I felt like every time we had appointments, they were like 'Oh, you guys are going to have them on the same day,'" she said. "And then I think when I called (Seward) when (Nietfeld's) water broke, he just started laughing over the phone to the nurse."

The sisters said they found out they were pregnant two days apart.

Their mother, Jody Homan, said her daughters played softball together in high school; Guggenbiller was pitcher, while Nietfeld was catcher, she said.

In fact, the pair have been close their entire lives, participating in the same sports and activities and sharing the same friends.

Homan said she was texting Nietfeld on May 4 and sat her phone down for a bit before she saw that her daughter had texted her back.

"I was texting her back like, 'Are you kidding me? Are you teasing me?' because she knew that I knew that Emma was there, too," Homan said with a laugh. "Wednesday night (May 4), they're up there and they're all hanging out in Leah's room, the two husbands and them, just chilling and sending us Snapchats."

Like many twins, Guggenbiller and Nietfeld said they occasionally share common thoughts and actions and have an unspoken understanding with each other, often referred to as "twin telepathy."

While they can't read each other's minds, they agreed the uncanny timing of the birth of their daughters is somewhat appropriate for twins.

"I was getting impatient," Guggenbiller said of her labor with a chuckle. "So then throughout the day I was texting her (Nietfeld), we were just one room apart. It was later in the evening that I delivered."

"I was in shock. Even the nurses were in shock," Nietfeld said. "I walked down to her room a few hours or an hour or two after I delivered."

In another twist, Guggenbiller said one of her best friends, also a nurse at Mercer Health, was working when she was admitted, as well as the photographer who took the twins' maternity photos.

A little over a month later, the sisters and cousins are happy and healthy. While the twins may have initially pushed back against having their daughters on the same day, the pair said they have an appreciation for the shared day.

"Honestly, at first I think we didn't really want them born on the same day because we've shared a day our whole life," Guggenbiller said. "We thought it would be nice for them to have their own day. But when it actually happened unexpectedly, it was pretty cool."