The nursing staff in the delivery room at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem were seeing double earlier today after a set of identical twins were both admitted into the hospital, and delivered babies on the very same day. The twins, Yael Yishai and Avital Segel (31), are residents of Gush Etzion. They shared a due date, and indeed delivered just hours apart. For both sisters it was their fourth child, with Yael delivering first, followed several hours later by Avital.
“The nursing staff was so incredible and they shared our excitement and made sure that we were able to be in the same room in the maternity department,” Avital said while Yael added, “Giving birth is always a special and moving experience but it’s even better when you can share it with a good friend who’s also your sister. It’s been fun sharing a room together with our new babies. In the past, we gave birth six weeks apart so this will now be the second time that we’ll be on maternity leave together.”
Rina Dvir and Efrat Herling, Senior Midwives at Shaare Zedek said, “Our motto in the delivery suites is that we’re committed to helping bring in new life and create new families, but there is no doubt that when we deliver sisters who are also identical twins that’s a whole different type of happiness and excitement. Shaare Zedek is home to the city’s busiest maternity center and we see our work as directly contributing to the growth of Jerusalem and Israel. The deliveries of the twin mothers went well with healthy babies and we wish them and their families only continued happiness and health.”
Remarkably this isn’t the first time that identical twins delivered babies on the very same day at Shaare Zedek, as the hospital witnessed a very similar event back in April 1997!
