A set of twin sisters from Tennessee have done almost everything together, including childbirth.
Amber Tramontana and Autum Shaw tell PEOPLE they’re still in disbelief after giving birth to daughters within 90 minutes of each other on Oct. 29 — their 33rd birthday.
“This is our testimony,” says Autum, mom to newborn Charleston. “You couldn’t have planned this… God made our story very, very special, and all the little details came together for a big, beautiful picture, and I’m so thankful for that.”
Adds Amber, mom of baby Blakely: “Pregnancy and childbirth is such a stressful and trying time. It’s beautiful, but it’s a hard stage of life, and it’s been really a huge blessing to have Autum every step of the way… we’ve had that our whole lives, so this is just one more thing to add to the list.”
Amber and Autum grew up together in Tennessee and continued to be close as they pursued bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Carson Newman University. They even went on to become registered nurses and nurse practitioners at the same time.
“Thirty-three years is a lot of time to build a lot of memories, and we’ve done it all together, all the way through school, grad school, our careers, on into adulthood, getting married,” says Amber. “We’ve had a co-pilot our entire lives for everything.”
One rare difference: Amber, who is based in Knoxville, chose to work in the maternity and oncology units, while Autum, of Morristown, worked on the trauma floor and went on to practice orthopedic nursing.
“That’s kind of where I think the miracle really stands out,” Autum recalls. “My husband Scott and I tried to get pregnant for about two years. Once we finally got pregnant with our son, we found out that Amber was just coming back from her honeymoon and was also pregnant. So what took us two years took her a honeymoon.”
“After the heartbreak, and after very little time, we became pregnant again,” Autum recalls. “That’s when Amber FaceTimed me one night [in late February or early March] and said, ‘Well, I wasn’t going to tell you this, but I’m pregnant.’ And I said, ‘Well, I wasn’t going to tell you this either, but I am too.'”
Both women were induced and their official due date was Oct. 29, the day they turned 33. Tramontana is older than Shaw by two minutes.
Though they expected Autum to go into labor first — she started having contractions at 24 weeks with baby No. 2 and went into labor first with baby No. 1 — that was not the case.
The sisters arrived at Fort Sanders Regional Hospital in Knoxville at 6 a.m. on Oct. 29, both 1.5 cm dilated, and went into labor shortly after. They had the same OB/GYN, Dr. George Vick, and were in adjacent rooms.
Blakely James, who weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces and arrived at 6 p.m., was welcomed by Tramontana and her husband Jim. Charleston Scott was named by Shaw and her husband Scott after their newborn daughter, who weighed 9 pounds and 4 ounces.
” Amber had a little taste of labor. I saw her the day before and then her sister was ready to roll so we had babies,” Vick told “GMA.” “It was a miracle.”
The sisters say their daughters formed an immediate connection.
“They took to one another like they’d already spent nine months in the womb together,” Autum recalls. “They just knew what to do and how to come together and comfort one another.”
As they look ahead to the future, the twins say they can’t wait to watch their daughters develop inseparable bonds, just as they have over these past 33 years.
“Every memory that I have as a little girl, in middle school, high school, college, throughout life, they all involve Amber in one way or another,” Autum says. “I imagine they’ll be no different… Charleston will say, ‘I always had Blakely,’ and Blakely will say, ‘I always had Charleston.'”
“It’s the birthday present that keeps getting sweeter,” adds Amber, “year after year.”
Tramontana and Shaw said they’re looking forward to making birthdays “a big deal” as their girls grow up together.
