Sharing a birthday with your siblings may be a nuisance, but not when you share it with your parents!
In a surprising twist of events, a couple from Ohio with the same birthday were blessed with the ultimate present on their special day this year — a set of twins.
Scierra Blair, 31, and José Ervin, 32 — who both celebrate their birthdays on August 18 — welcomed a son and a daughter five minutes past midnight at Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital on August 18.
“It’s a blessing. Best birthday present ever,” Ervin told PEOPLE.
The chances of sharing a birthday with both of your biological parents are slim — about 1 in every 133,000 births, according to the Huntsville Hospital for Women & Children estimation.
But Ervin and Blair’s extraordinary journey wasn’t smooth. Ervin had to convince his fiancé to endure labor pain for a few extra hours to hit the birthday jackpot.
The twins’ due date was initially expected to be August 28, but when the couple checked in the hospital on August 17, doctors found one of the babies positioned feet-down in the womb and advised Blair to opt for a caesarian surgery to avoid birth complications.
Around 4:30 p.m., Ervin realized if the couple hung on for a few hours, the family of four would all share the same birth date.
Since the mother and the babies were healthy, doctors gave it a go to wait, and Ervin successfully convinced his “tired-and-hungry fiancé” to keep her cool.
“Since she was in good health and wasn’t stressed, and the kids were in good health and weren’t stressed, I thought, ‘Why not wait?’” Ervin shared excitedly.
“I said our kids being born on our birthday, that’s unique. All of us celebrating together, that’s beautiful.”
“I was hangry and just wanted it to be over,” Blair quipped.
“He said, ‘It’s only a few hours and it will go by real fast.’ And I just looked at him and said, ‘Easy for you to say. I’m starving.’”
But Blair agreed on a funny condition. “I agreed, but I told them they owed me a week of potato salad,” Blair said.
Shortly after the date on the calendar turned August 18, doctors successfully delivered José Ervin III. Ar’ria Lannette Ervin was born a minute later.
“They were my birthday present and I’m good with that,” Ervin told PEOPLE. “I’m so stoked. I kiss them like 30,000 times a day.”
