Two Sisters Give Birth 90 Minutes Apart

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Two sisters from the Twin Cities weathered pregnancy and giving birth together.

Ashley Carruth and Brittany Schille were both due with babies in December, but ended up going into labor much closer than expected.

The sisters both found out they were pregnant in April, shortly after the state went into a pandemic lockdown. They heard all the jokes of a baby boom.

"Everybody was like 'you didn't do good social distancing from her husband'," said Carruth.

The two would weather nine months of pregnancy, sharing the same due date month, even the same doctor. They relied on each other when their dad died from cancer in 2016, and they did it again through pregnancy and a pandemic.

"Even for the baby showers and things like that, it's not normal and it's not what you expect in your head, so it's hard, but having my sister going through it was just so comforting," said Schille.

As Schille's induction date arrived, Carruth didn't just want to be left out.

"She had texted me at 2:30 in the morning saying 'I'm having contractions I might be meeting you at the hospital'," said Schille.

The women got side-by-side rooms at M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville.

"We would text back and forth 'what are you dilated to, have you had an epidural yet'," said Schille.

"I'd walk past the nurse station, even down the hall, I could hear them talking about it," said husband John Carruth.

Their two healthy baby boys were born just 90 minutes apart. Both sisters believe it was a wink from their dad, helping them stay together in a time of isolation. In a year that brought so many challenges, this family has two reasons to smile this holiday season.

"During a pandemic when you're not even allowed to have visitors, it was such a ray of hope for our family," said Carruth.

The boys were named Cassius John and Zander Paul, who was named after their father, Paul.