MARYSVILLE — Wallace Cabe didn’t believe it when he heard that his pregnant daughters have the same due date.
When he finally believed them, his daughters said, his grandpa-to-be gear went into overdrive. Cabe sent e-mail messages to every one of his Tarheel relatives, to every friend and colleague, a bunch of parenting publications and even to Oprah Winfrey.
“My wife and I couldn’t be more excited,” Cabe said. “We celebrated our 25th anniversary this year and now we’re going to have two new grandbabies on the same day. It’s a great Christmas present.”
Sisters Breana Baker, 24, of Marysville, and Shawna Phillips, 22, of Arlington, share an upbringing in Darrington, a love of family gatherings and the reddish hair they have in common with the color of their dad’s mustache.
They also have the same obstetrician — Dr. Laurent Nicolov, the same original due date of Jan. 3 and a plan to have back-to-back cesarean sections Dec. 29 at the Providence Pavilion for Women and Children in Everett.
“We’re well known at the doctor’s office. It’s very weird, but it is special,” Breana said. “Maybe they’ll even give us hospital rooms next door to each other.”
Everybody wants to be there for the births: their parents, Wallace and Cindy; their husbands Joseph Phillips and Greg Baker; Shawna’s son Jaden Phillips, 2, and Breana’s kids, Austin Case, 7, and redheaded Kyleigh Case, 5.
“Mamaw” Janet Cabe, their paternal grandmother, and Grandma Saundra Baker, their maternal grandmother, are doing their parts, too. Mamaw is quilting matching baby quilts and Grandma is having sympathy pains in the form of charley horses in her legs.
The cousins who soon will share the same December birthday are to be named David Donald Baker and Klaira Ann Phillips.
“I am counting the days,” Breana said on Friday while taking a work break during her shift at a respite care home in her neighborhood.
“I’m tired and I’m ready,” she said with a yawn and a laugh.
Her sister is ready, too. It’s been a long haul, Shawna said.
The sisters’ children all have been fairly big babies and both women had previous C-sections. They decided it was best for them to repeat the operation with their current pregnancies.
Shawna and Breana were surprised at first to find out their babies were due at the same time, but these days they do a lot of things together.
“We’ve had our share of sisterly tiffs, as all sisters do,” Shawna said, “But we’re close and we talk on the phone nearly every day.”
The sisters have matching nose piercings and plan to get matching tattoos of the Chinese character for “sister.”
They pass baby clothes back and forth to each other, finish each other’s sentences and giggle at each other’s jokes.
Their shared due date has been a lot of fun, but they’ve taken their share of ribbing too, Breana said.
“Dad teases us, like, ‘I know what you guys were all doing one night last spring,’ ” Shawna said.
Wallace Cabe* admits he’s almost more excited about the upcoming births than his daughters are.
“I’m proud of my girls,” Wallace Cabe said. “They’re very good mothers.”
Reporter Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427 or gfiege@heraldnet.com.
*Correction, Dec. 8, 2008: This article originally misspelled Wallace Cabe’s name.
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