Sisters share the ultimate experience

The bond between siblings can be like no other. A sibling is someone you can grow and share special moments with throughout your lifetime. For sisters Shelly Shae and Shannon Quijano, they were able to share the ultimate experience in July.

On Shannon’s birthday, she revealed to her sister the news that she was pregnant. Two weeks after her announcement, Shelly had some news of her own.

“My sister said she had something very serious to tell me,” Shannon says. “It turns out she was pregnant too!”

Both women were ecstatic about becoming first-time moms together, an experience they’ve described as bringing them even closer. “Being pregnant at the same time was fun because we shared much of our journey,” says Shelly, “We understood each other in ways no one else could.”

One special memory was at one of Shelly’s prenatal appointments. “Shannon accompanied my patient Shelly to one of her visits,” says Dr. Shereen Binno, an OBGYN with Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group. “We joked that they could potentially be in the hospital delivering together.”

Little did they know that joke would become a reality.

Two wonderful surprises — within two days
Shannon was admitted to Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women & Newborns and delivered a healthy baby boy. Kendrick came into the world measuring 7 pounds, 2.8 ounces, and 19.7 inches.

Shelly was visiting her sister in her recovery room when she suddenly began to feel the start of her own contractions. She went downstairs to the hospital’s triage unit to be checked to see if she was going into labor. There, she was monitored by the hospital staff and cleared to go home.

Hours later, Shelly’s water broke. “I went back to the hospital still wearing my patient identification band from earlier that day,” she says.

Two days after her sister, Shelly also delivered a healthy baby boy, naming him Roy. He weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces, and was 22 inches.

Their family’s reaction to the double delivery: shock and excitement.

Staying three doors away from each other in the hospital, the sisters could not wait to see each other again. At their first meeting, they immediately held the other’s baby.

Roy and Kendrick also got to meet for the first time as they were held cheek to cheek. “It was so great to be able to have our family all together,” says Shannon.

Since the birth of their sons, Shelly and Shannon report that their bond is as strong as ever. Together, they are navigating through motherhood for the first time and enjoying the results of the very best kind of surprise.