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Mother's coincidental name choice for twins delivers sweet surprise for two nurses

The new mother said “Those two nurses will always be special to us."
nurse delivery baby hospital
Posted at 2:29 PM, Oct 25, 2022
and last updated 2022-10-25 16:51:00-04

It will be a story they tell for a lifetime.

When Lauren Meehan and her husband Chris went to the hospital to deliver their new twin babies, they never expected the exciting coincidence after a simple and standard question from the delivery nurses.

When the Meehan's delivered their baby girls, it was a surprise in and of itself when they came a bit early and in the middle of the night at the Rose Medical Center in Denver, Colorado.

The nurses on shift asked the family if they had picked out names for the babies yet.

Lauren recalled that when she said, "yep, we like Emma and Julia," she said the room got quiet.

What could have happened? HCA Healthcare, which the Rose Medical Center is a part of, delivers 217,000 babies a year. What was so surprising about this delivery and this usual question?

The family says the healthcare workers around them began to giggle.

Well, just by coincidence, those were the names of the two nurses who would care for the babies just after they were delivered.

The new mother said, “In all the chaos, we were able to stop for a second and enjoy that moment knowing that those names were meant to be.”

“This experience has been so unique and such a highlight of my career,” said postpartum nurse Emma Anderson.

She said, “I feel incredibly fortunate to have met this family and to have been a part of little Emma and Julia’s journey.”

Julia Van Marter, a nurse with the Rose Medical Center for three years, said, "I had never delivered a baby with my name before so I was pretty excited. But I mean, I feel like it's pretty rare to have that coincidence in general and especially with twins and two nurses. That just doesn't happen around here," she told Good Morning America.

The Social Security Administration releases top U.S. baby names annually and said that "Emma" was in the second spot towards the top of the list in 2021, while "Julia" came in lower on the list in the number 114 spot last year.