July 16 is a special day for Jiang Cuiqun and her family. Not only because it’s her birthday, but it’s also a birthdate she shares with her newborn daughter, mum, as well as older brother.
What are the odds?
Jiang, 34, who gave birth to her daughter just last month, told Zaobao.sg that she did not plan for her daughter to arrive on July 16.
When her gynaecologist first told her that her baby’s due date would likely be on July 15, Jiang thought nothing of it.
However, it was her brother who hoped for his niece to arrive on their collective birthdays so that they could celebrate the day together.
Jiang is the youngest among five siblings while her brother, who’s 13 years her senior, is the eldest.
She had intended to check into the hospital on July 15 for labour to be induced at the 40-week mark. However, as there were not enough beds at the hospital, the process was delayed by a day.
Even then, Jiang thought the baby would not come so soon, as she recalled enduring a 30-hour labour for her first child, a boy.
But the process was unexpectedly smooth and Jiang’s daughter was born that same day.
“It seems fated. My gynaecologist was shocked to hear that four of us in the family across three generations share the same birthday and it was something they’d not heard of,” said Jiang.
According to her husband, the odds of such an occurrence is less than one in 130,000.
Jiang’s mum too, shared her joy at the happy coincidence. She told Zaobao that she’d never planned to have Jiang and her brother share the same birthday, especially since Jiang’s birth was delayed by a week.
Incidentally, Jiang’s husband was born on July 12 while her sister’s birthday falls on July 17, making it a joyous month of celebrations for the family.
Will it be fifth time lucky?
Well, perhaps not for Jiang, who shared that she is contented with having a boy and a girl and has no intentions of expanding her brood.
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.