EASTPORT, Maine — Erica and Tashina Ackley are twins who not only share a birthday, but, as of Friday, share the birth days of their first babies.

The two sisters, who will be 22 this week, delivered only hours apart Friday morning at Down East Community Hospital in Machias. Tashina gave birth to a six-pound, 11 ounce, 19.5-inch girl — Ivory Mae Cushing — at 8:54 a.m. Erica followed suit just before noon, giving birth to a six-pound, 18-inch boy — Keiran Leighton Carter.





“We took pregnancy tests together and found out we were pregnant on the same day,” Erica said, “and we did every [prenatal] appointment together.”

“We thought it would be cool if we had our babies on the same day, but we didn’t expect that it would happen,” Tashina said.

They also chose the same day to break the news of their pregnancies to their mother, Mary Ackley of Eastport, who has four other daughters.

“I had told some other people I was pregnant, so I figured it would be best if my mother heard the news from me, not somebody else,” Erica said.

“I waited a few hours,” Tashina said, “then I asked my mother if she would like to have a baby in each arm again, like she did with us. She had no idea what I meant until I told her I was pregnant, too.”

The moms and their newborns will head home to Eastport on Sunday.

“They’re beautiful,” Tashina said.

“And we’re already pretty attached,” Erica said. “They’ll be fun.”