MICHIGAN, USA — Three best friends, three babies and three birthdays. Three West Michigan friends all had babies on the same day – just one year apart.
Kristen Bogardus, Bobbilyn Bruursema and Andrew Skinner have been friends for almost a decade.
In high school, Kristen and Bobbilyn met through Kristen’s boyfriend at the time. The girls quickly formed a bond and became inseparable.
“We joke that she got me in the divorce,” Kristin said. “We've been friends ever since.”
Andrew and Bobbilyn later met at work and when all the three got together, they knew they would be great friends.
The group has impacted each other in many ways, whether it was temporarily living together when they needed a place or playing matchmaker.
“My mom's a cosmetologist,” Bobbilyn said. “She's done Jaclyn and her family's hair for years and my parents knew Andrew, and my mom knew Jaclyn.”
Fast forward to now, Jaclyn and Andrew are married, making the trio a quad. The couple have a daughter, Allison. She was the first baby to be born on Sept. 29, 2022.
Then followed Carter on Sept. 29, 2023 and Caleb on Sept. 29, 2024. The group calls it a "crazy coincidence."
“Nobody was induced, no inductions, no C-sections, nothing,” Bruursema said. “It just all happened.”
Wishful thinking? Maybe. Bruursema hoped Caleb and Carter would share a birthday. She even had a dream Bogardus was pregnant before she told anyone.
“I had a dream that she got a positive pregnancy test before she even, like, had one.” she said. “It was that morning he told me that she had gotten a pregnancy test… then I kept saying the whole time, I'm like ‘the baby will be born on the 29th because her due date was the same as my due date with Carter.”
To their surprise, Bogardus’ water broke at 2 a.m. on Sept 29th.
“I texted her at two o'clock on my way to the hospital, and was like “It’s going to happen they're all going to share a birthday,’” Bogardus said.
What's next for the group? Lots of playdates and future birthday bashes.
“We always do Friday night campfires and now we’ll be doing that as families,” Jaclyn said, “and enjoy growing up with those sorts of traditions.”