A pair of identical twins have welcomed babies on the same day – their own birthday.
Like many twins, Theandi Esterhui-zen and Karla va der Linde share a special bond, from having their own private language as kids, to finishing each other’s sentences.
But the 32-year-old siblings have taken things to the next level, after falling pregnant at the same time and both welcoming baby girls on the same day, in the same hospital.
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While the odds of it happening on their birthday are unknown – and likely extremely rare – the sisters were thrilled to be, once more, in sync.
“Becoming a mum at the same time as my sister is what I looked forward to most,” Karla told What’s The Jam.
“We dreamed of experiencing everything together – we went to university together, we got our first waitressing jobs together and now here we are, mums together.”
The sisters, who work together as estate agents with their own business, found out their shared happy news over Easter weekend 2025.
Theandi and husband Conrad were hosting the family at their home in Albertinia, with Karla and her fiancé Robert visiting from nearby George.
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Theandi was first to discover she was pregnant, and quickly told her sister.
Karla said: “When she told me the news I cried so much.
“I couldn’t believe I was going to be an aunt.”
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Then things took a strange turn.
Since the pair do things together anyway, Theandi urged Karla to take one of her spare pregnancy tests “just for fun”.
But the result left everyone in a state of shock – Karla was expecting too, with both babies due in mid-December.
Things continued on the same eerily similar path from there, with both babies in breach position and needing C-section deliveries – which were scheduled for the same day, 9 December, the twins’ birthday.
Theandi said: “We actually forgot it was our birthday.
“We were just excited to meet our babies.”
Theandi’s daughter, Leah-Rose, came first, weighing 5.3lbs (2.4kg).
Karla’s baby, Ruby- Mae, followed shortly after, clocking the scales at 6.1lbs (2.8kg).
The sisters have been peas in a pod since their birth in Cape Town, South Africa over three decades ago.
Theandi added: “We’ve had our own language since babyhood.”
Their mother, Liandri, even took them to a speech therapist at one stage because her daughters communicated so cryptically she wondered if they’d ever be able to converse with the rest of the world.
But the specialist assured her it was normal for twins – and they have continued on to be quite the twosome ever since.
These days, constant video calls are being made be tween the two new mums.
Karla said: “We discuss which kind of dummy the other one uses, how often we breastfeed and what happens at bath time.”
Theandi plans to move to George in the next two years so the two cousins can be closer to each other – and perhaps even develop a bond just as close as the one their mothers have.
