TWO babies who were set to be born six weeks apart are sharing a birthday.

New mum Charlotte Naven, 22, of Huddersfield, and her sister-in-law Emma Naven went through their pregnancies together, but Charlotte was due to have her baby first.

But the surprise early appearance of Emma’s little boy on March 1 meant the two were born just seven minutes apart.

Charlotte said: “We were pregnant together so we talked about baby clothes and all the little stresses that come along.

“We chatted together about how the babies are moving, plus of course we had to stay in over Christmas so we teamed up to give our partners grief.

“I was in Huddersfield Birthing Centre at the Infirmary and Emma was booked into the Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax. My partner Ian and my brother Steven, who is Emma’s husband, work together.

“My contractions started on the morning of March 1 and I went into the Infirmary at 12pm.

“It was around then that my brother rang me and said Emma’s waters had broken and they were going to be giving injections to strengthen the baby.

“I decided not to say that I was in having mine.

“I had Riley at 2.02pm and then heard that Emma had Brendan at 2.09pm, so they were just seven minutes apart.

“Obviously it was unexpected, but we wanted to tell the story not just because of that, but to show how well the two different units work.

“My labour was fine and even with Emma’s coming six weeks premature both are doing well.”

It’s a busy time in the two households as Charlotte is already mum to two-year-old Ellie-Rae Noble and Emma has Cameron, 10, and three-year-old Sinead.

Emma added: “Brendan is doing well, although he is still having to stay in hospital.

“He’s out of the incubator and his jaundice is clearing up.

“It was such a shock. I got up in the morning and my waters had broken. There was supposed to be a bigger gap between them, but he decided he was coming out on the same day.

“We don’t know when he’s coming home yet, because he’s got to establish a feeding routine. Because he was born early he has to learn how to do that, but hopefully he will be home in the next few weeks.

“It’s a busy time because we are juggling our other children with hospital visits, but they are doing really well and being very understanding.”