Three cousins born on Tuesday are set for lives of shared birthdays, as three sisters from Co Roscommon gave birth on the same day.
Even more improbably, a fourth sister is also due and was expected to give birth to her fourth child at some stage on Wednesday.
Mairead Fitzpatrick and her sisters Bernie and Jolene, all from Cloonfad, Co Roscommon, were in Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar on Tuesday to welcome three new members to the family.
Triple arrival
Ms Fitzpatrick, speaking on RTÉ News at One, said that while the sisters had been given close due dates, the triple arrival on a single day was unexpected. “We never thought it would all happen on the one day.”
Mairead was due on Friday, August 28th, but her first child Thomás Óg was born early on Tuesday morning, just after 3am.
Her sister Jolene’s daughter, her second child, was born later, at 11am.
Exceptional day
As the day went on it looked like there would be another immediate arrival. At 8.30pm, Bernie gave birth to a son, her third child, rounding out an exceptional day for the family.
Mairead said: “The two girls that delivered my little boy delivered Bernie’s boy, so two nurses delivered two cousins.”
The sisters thanked the staff at the hospital for their work. “They couldn’t believe it,” Mairead said.
Amazingly, another sister, Christina, was due to give birth on Sunday, August 30th, and is now expected to give birth to her fourth child later on Wednesday.