A pair of identical twins who married a pair of identical twins are now expecting at identical times. Brittany and Briana Deane, both 33, are pregnant and their partners Josh and Jeremy Salyers, both 35, are the fathers.
It's a lot to wrap one's head around, but this group of four have been turning heads since they met in 2017. It was only one month before they all were engaged, with Jeremy and Josh proposing within 30 days of the original meeting.
From there, they were all married in a joint ceremony on August 5, 2018. They now share a home in Virginia and are welcoming babies together. If it sounds familiar, it may be because they were featured on TLC's "Our Twinsane Wedding." In August, through their (no surprise) joint Instagram page, the foursome announced the happy news.
"Guess what!!?? BOTH couples are pregnant! We are thrilled and grateful to experience overlapping pregnancies and to share this news with you all!"
The photo they included showed both soon-to-be sets of parents posing in red Baywatch-esque swinsuits. The upcoming dads are holding life rafts while the expectant moms are wearing the words "Baby Watch" across their suits.
Today, they are about five months along, and the women shared another post to announce their big gender reveal. They are wearing matching pink and blue dresses to commemorate the possible outcomes.
"Make it pink! Make it blue!" The wrote upon announcing that Brittany and Josh will be having a boy. Briana and Jeremy are still awaiting their results.
Identical twins make up one third of all twins with the birth rate statistics of identical twinning keeping stable throughout the years, even with a marked decline in twins and multiples since the end of the '80s. Today, the odds of a couple having identical twins is roughly about 3 in every 1,000. Conversely, the birth rate for all twins is about 33 in 1,000.
The term monozygotic is used to describe a pair of identical twins. Monozygotic twins form from a single fertilized egg. The word comes from the combination of a single (mono) and the egg itself (zygote). Upon conception, the zygote splits into two parts and leads to the development of two individual embryos. Due to the fact that these two embryos come from a single egg and sperm combination, they have the same genetic origins and thus the same DNA, for the most part.
Though the double pregnancy might be shocking for many to hear about, the two sisters revealed the plan to Australia's Today show last year. As Brianna told the show, "Ideally the timing will have to be really good."
Brittany added, "I think there's just something we would love to experience together."
For four people so intertwined, this is the best case scenario. Here's hoping for identical lives of happiness.
Sources: The Sun, Today, Very Well Family