Limerick baby defies odds of ‘133,000/1’ to share birthday with mum and dad

THEY SAY you have a 133,000/1 chance of being born on the same day as your parents’ birthday, and that’s exactly what happened when little Baby Sam was born at University Maternity Hospital Limerick last Monday morning.

Delighted Limerick parents Jennifer and Dan Burke were expecting to bring their first-born into the world last Friday but little Sam was eager to “make an early appearance” on Monday, September 17.

She was scheduled to come in on September 18 for a section on the following day.

“Because it was planned and scheduled for Wednesday, I was not expecting it all to happen so soon,” the new Castletroy mum said.

“I was a little in denial about the pains on Sunday and at that stage I was not even conscious of the date, only thinking ‘Oh my God it is happening’ and it was time to get to hospital. Only when we got into admissions and the girls were asking me my own date of birth, she said to me ‘You do realise you are going to have this baby today as well?’”

Because of all the commotion, the two had actually forgotten about their own birthdays!

Sam was a healthy eight pounds and five ounces on deliver, and both mum and baby are doing well, the UL Hospitals Group said this Tuesday morning.

Jennifer said that “everything went seamlessly”.

The Castletroy parents run Kelly Richards Printing on Roches Street. The overjoyed father is also an optometrist.

Dan thanked the Ennis Road staff and, in particular, the consultant obstetrician/gynaecologist Dr Mark Skehan for accommodating Sam’s early arrival.

“Dr Skehan was amazing. He was not long after celebrating a special birthday of his own when he came into us on Monday morning. He and all of the staff here were absolutely brilliant. “They are all on message at six in the morning or whatever time you come in. From the girls in admissions to the anaesthetist and everyone in theatre to the wards afterwards, everything all along was checked and double-checked to make sure everything went well.”

“It has happened before in the States and from what I have read the chances are 133,000/1. We would love to say we planned it but we didn’t,” Dan added. 

Dr Skehan commented: “It’s the first time I have ever seen a whole family with the same date of birth before. It’s going to take a lot of celebrating.”