In a truly one in a million story, two best friends who fell pregnant together for the second time just gave birth two days apart from each other.
It truly was meant to be.
Shauna Wheeler, 41, and Ivy Chichester, 37, are BFFs in every sense of the word. Their friendship started back in April 2021 when they met on Peanut, an app that helps mums meet other mums.
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Speaking to Today, Shauna revealed that she gave birth to her now two-year-old daughter just a week before Ivy had her son.
What's more, Shauna's birthday is the same Ivy's sister's, with Ivy telling the outlet: "We've always had these little connection points, so of course our babies would have similar birth dates."
Even though their friendship is bound by these little coincidences, Shauna explained that she couldn't quite believe that they had fallen pregnant again at the same time.
"A week before (Ivy) actually confirmed she was pregnant she was saying she might be pregnant," she said.
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"I kind of snickered, because I feel like people always think that, but at the time it had been so early for her to have symptoms for real."
But Ivy, who lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her bestie, disagrees, stating: "I felt that egg implant."
After confirming the pregnancy to their group of mom friends, Shauna suspected she might be pregnant too and so immediately went home to take a test.
"Sure enough, I was," she said. "That line was the pinkest I've ever seen it – it was prominent."
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Both women were apprehensive about the news but for different reasons – while Ivy was concerned about the idea of having a second child, Shauna was worried as she had previously experienced a miscarriage.
But luckily they had each other and their group of friends as support, with Ivy saying: "It was just so nice to truly have a judgment-free zone where I could talk about whatever I was feeling and have that mental and emotional support from my village.
"Those conversations helped me through the struggles, and because Shauna was pregnant we could support each other on a slightly bigger level because we were both going through it at the same time."
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Although Shauna had planned for a C-section, the date was moved forward after a routine check-up showed her blood pressure was high.
Thankfully the delivery went well, and she gave birth to a healthy baby on 5 December.
"The next day I was recovering and Ivy was supposed to come visit," she said.
"A couple hours later, Ivy called and said: 'I'm at the hospital!' My husband said: 'They said she can't visit'. I said: 'Um, she's in labour.'"
Lo and behold, her best pal ended up giving birth just two days later on 7 December.
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"It felt surreal, but also right," said Ivy. "It felt like we were meant to be at the hospital at the same time and we were meant to have our babies around the same time and that our friendship was meant to be."
As for the future, the pair are understandably hoping that their kids will have as close a relationship as they do.
Ivy finished by saying: "I hope they'll be lifelong friends. But something I always think about, just as a person of colour, is this sense of self and to have that community.
"And something that's so important to me, because I'm raising sons, is for them to see the beauty of Black women.
"There's no excuse – no excuse – because they've been exposed to beautiful, smart intelligent Black women."
Featured Image Credit: Shauna Wheeler