Twin sisters who live 100 miles apart delivered healthy baby boys Wednesday at Upstate University Hospital‘s Community campus.

One was almost five weeks early; the other was more than a week late. If their mothers had not doublechecked with each other before choosing names, the cousins would have shared a middle name.

As it is, Emmit George Hager and Ethan William Barnum will share a birthday.

Nurse practitioner Denise Ruddick has been practicing 19 years. “I‘ve had mothers and daughters deliver close to the same day, and sisters deliver close to the same day, but I‘ve never had twins deliver near each other, let alone the same day.”

Here‘s how it happened:

Sarah Hager lives in Rochester with her husband, Jon, but because of her job as a school counselor in Homer, she stays at her sister‘s home in Pompey during the week. Hager is pregnant with her first baby. Her twin, Jessica Barnum is pregnant with her third.

Throughout her pregnancy, Hager says she had many dreams about delivering her baby early, and with her sister.

“I laughed at her when she told me that,” Barnum says. “I said that‘s not going to happen – especially since we weren‘t even due at the same time.”

The Hagers were due June 21; the Jessica and Anthony Barnums, May 13.

Monday morning, May 21, Hager‘s water broke. She was at her sister‘s home in Pompey. Her husband was interviewing for a job in Washington State. Barnum drove Hager to Upstate University Hospital at Community, and Hager‘s husband started switching flight reservations to travel back to Central New York.

Hager‘s labor began in the middle of the day Tuesday, just before Barnum was scheduled to arrive at the hospital to have her labor induced. Jon Hager arrived in time for Emmit‘s birth at 1:52 a.m. Wednesday, attended by certified nurse midwife Susan Kneeland. Ethan was born several hours later, at 3:39 p.m., attended by Jennifer Marziale MD.

Neither Hager nor Barnum learned their baby‘s gender prior to birth. Each had a few names in mind for girls or boys. It wasn‘t until Hager arrived in Barnum‘s room to meet her new nephew that the twin mothers realized they were both planning on their grandfather‘s name, George for their sons‘ middle name. Barnum chose another family name, William for Ethan.