Sylvania Township mother, daughter born exact same time, same date

Sylvania Township resident Elizabeth Leeds, shares the same birth date and birth time with her daughter, Allison, who is almost three months. ELIZABETH LEEDS Enlarge

Sylvania Township resident Elizabeth Leeds never imagined that the birth of her daughter would be on her own birthday.

“She wasn’t due until a week later and we ended up having to pick a day for induction,” she said. Her doctor gave her two choices: either her own birthday or Mother’s Day, which was two days later.

“I didn’t want to wait until after Mother’s Day. I weighed the pros and cons,” Ms. Leeds said. But it ended up that her daughter had plans of her own.

“I started going into labor at 12:15 a.m. [on my birthday]. One way or another, I was sharing a birthday with her.” The labor and delivery proceeded and Ms. Leeds was able to celebrate the day.

It wasn’t until a few weeks later that she found out the day had more than just one similarity. She was spring cleaning when she found her birth certificate and remembered thinking that while she and her daughter shared the same birthdate, they could at least sing “Happy Birthday” at separate times on May 11, based on times they were born.

However, it turns out that Allison was born at 1:16 p.m. on May 11, 2012, and Mrs. Leeds was born at 1:16 p.m. on May 11, 1981 — both daughter and mother born at the same time and on the same date in May.

“I look at it and I go, ‘How is this even possible?’” Ms. Leeds said about the birth certificate similarities. “I told my husband about it and he had notes on his iPhone from right when the birth happened.”

“We kind of just sat in amazement really,” she said. “I didn’t think to look before. I wasn’t trying to. I was completely oblivious to it.”

While it is uncommon, it is not exactly unusual for family members to share a birthday, Ms. Leeds said. She researched this occurrence online after finding out and found a few cases of people in the same family being born on the same date. But when she looked for information about the exact date and time, there wasn’t much to go on.

“It’s odd enough in terms of statistics,” she said. “It’s gotta be pretty crazy.” She hasn’t taken the issue any further, such as consulting a university professor to determine the exact probability, but she said she is more than fine with sharing a special day with Allison, who will be 3-months-old at the end of this week.

Contact Kelly McLendon at: kmclendon@theblade.com or 419-206-0356.