‘How cool would it be, everyone thought’
Image: Nine IJff
Ashley (29) has her birthday together with Robin (28) on April 15, which is the same day as her mother Dorine (58). Exactly on that day, she also gave birth to her daughter Liv (1) last year.
Ashley: “’You’ll give birth today, on your birthday!’ Everyone who congratulated me last year had no idea that I had been in the hospital for hours. As I puffed away my contractions, Robin answered every message on my phone with a white lie – the birth of our child was supposed to be a surprise.
Three generations
The opening took a long time. I got stuck at 9.5 centimeters late at night as the baby’s heart rate dropped and I ran a high fever. When it was decided to have a caesarean section, the gynecologist said: ‘Then we will do everything we can to get the little one before midnight!’
The staff knew that it was not only my birthday – in the afternoon we had handed out cake – but also my mother. She gave birth to me on her 29th birthday: coincidentally exactly the age I am now. How cool would it be, everyone in the operating room thought, if three generations had their birthdays on April 15? Of course the most important thing was that our child would be born healthy, but lying behind the C-section screen I peered at the clock: would it work?
With the due date, first April 15 and later adjusted to April 14, I have hardly been busy during my pregnancy. Only five percent of women give birth on that day, so I assumed the baby would come at another time. Rather, in my opinion. Eventually it came to forty weeks and I was on the verge of preeclampsia, so I was induced.
Also read – ‘My mother loves to see my red curls on her granddaughters’ >
Barely
Liv was born at 11:56 PM, just in the nick of time on April 15. The fact that she was a girl – the gender was a surprise – made it extra special: three generations born on the same day and then all three women. When my mother heard about it, she couldn’t believe her happiness. The rest of the family and friends were also amazed and we even appeared in the newspaper and on the radio. It was only then that I really realized how special it is.
“I only really realized how special it is when it came in the newspaper”
I used to get my own cake with my age on it on my birthday, but I celebrated it with my mother. We will probably make it a triple party in the coming years. So cozy, but also practical: we can at least receive the visit in one go. We then simply place the rollators next to the bouncy castle.”
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