On Sunday, November 6, 2016, 32-year-old mother-to-be Emily Peterson was preparing to give birth to her twin boys.
Her first boy, Samuel, was born at 1:39 am.
But her second boy, Ronan, didn’t arrive until 2:10 am – or as Daylight Savings Time would have it – 1:10 am.
The births of Emily’s boys were split up by the ending of Daylight Savings Time which meant that Ronan, though born 31 minutes after his brother, will actually end up being the older twin, according to their birth certificates.
One of the hospital’s maternity nurses, Deb Totten, has worked in the hospital for over 40 years, but even she “never kn[ew]” that the clock on the wall would “start[] spinning backwards” for the time change.
Emily recounted, “I remember the people saying, ‘What time is it?! What’s the time?’ and I thought ‘What is the problem, there’s a giant clock on the wall!’ I was somewhat preoccupied with the process of bringing [my boys] into the world.
“When I saw the clock, I thought ‘I’m not going to say anything; this is probably in my head.’”
Thankfully, it wasn’t just her. Even her husband, Seth, was thinking, “Well this is going to be interesting.”
But all birth time confusions aside, the Peterson family is all healthy and well. The boys have been able to go home with their parents (and older sister), where they will undoubtedly begin debating about who’s older in a few years’ time.
“They’ll probably argue about it for the rest of their lives. I just think it’s pretty unique. I’m just not sure how old they’ll be before they understand it — even adults are confused,” Emily said. "I hope they kind of look at it as they’re equally special."
