Separated at birth? Only just... Sisters give birth to baby girls just ONE minute apart in next door rooms
Two sisters are having a double celebration - after giving birth to two baby girls within one minute of each other, in next door rooms.
Kerry Johnston, 26, and Lee-ann Annan, 24, had been due to give birth nine days apart, but went into labour within just 15 minutes of one another.
They were both taken to Poole Hospital, Dorset, where, unknown to them, they were placed in neighbouring rooms.
Coincidence: Sisters Lee-ann, left, and Kerry gave birth to baby girls Bella and Jessica within a minute of each other at Poole Hospital
After eight and a half hours of labour, Lee-ann gave birth to Bella at 11.53am, and a minute later, at 11.54, Kerry had Jessica.
Bella weighed 8lbs 3oz and her cousin was two ounces heavier. Both sisters, who live five minutes apart, have now left hospital and are celebrating the double birth with their families.
Lee-ann and her husband Wayne, 27, arrived at the hospital at 8am on her due date, April 29 - the day of the Royal Wedding.
At 9.30am, she was followed by elder sister Kerry and her fiance Callum Metcalfe, 29, who had been expecting their baby nine days earlier.
Kerry, a care worker from Three Legged Cross, near Verwood, Dorset, said: 'Wayne and Callum had been calling each other with updates so we knew they were already in the hospital.
Close family: Lee-ann, left, with husband Wayne and daughters Lilly, centre left, and baby Bella. On the right are Kerry with her partner Callum and their children, Harry, Sadie and baby Jessica
'We'd been in a while when the midwife told us that my sister was in the next room.
'I couldn't really believe it. You couldn't put a bet on it.
'An hour or two later, the family all congregated in my room.
'We've been close since we left school and moved out of home, but we were a nightmare as kids.
'We spent a lot of time together shopping for baby clothes when we were pregnant, but never expected this.'
Wayne, who works for the Royal Logistics Corps, said: 'We couldn't believe it.
'We're all really close and spend a lot of time together - we only live five minutes apart.
'Callum first told me Kerry was pregnant when were in the supermarket. I had to laugh, because Lee-ann had only told me she was pregnant that morning.
'Even then, we never thought we'd have the babies at the same time. We thought it would probably be a couple of weeks apart.
'It was only when they both went into labour and phoned their mum Lynn to tell her that we realised the babies might have the same birthday.
'About an hour and a half after Bella and Jessica arrived, we were all in the same room together celebrating. It's absolutely brilliant.'
Callum, a plumber, and Kerry now have three children: Sadie, eight, Harry, three, and Jessica.
Wayne and Lee-ann, who live in West Moors, a couple of miles from Callum and Kerry, have a four-year-old daughter, Lilly, and baby Bella.
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