Two sisters who accompanied each other's pregnancy for 9 months, experienced a close birth and are now recovering together in maternity ward D "Zero Separation" in Hadassah Ein Kerem.
Yael Schwartz, 28 years old from Elazar, arrived last Friday night for her second birth at Hadassah Ein Kerem. After the birth, early on Saturday morning, Yael met her mother in the corridors of the delivery room, who had come to the hospital to accompany her younger sister - Moriah Moral, 27, from the Talmon settlement, for her third birth.
"My mother wasn't supposed to come, because she was helping my sister Moriah, who was staying at her house with an advanced pregnancy. I was very surprised when I saw her in Hadassah after my birth, but pretty quickly it dawned on me that Moria was also giving birth," says Yael with a smile. "We knew we were close in date, but for nine months we couldn't even imagine that we would give birth on the same day," they both add excitedly, "We now have two cousins in the family who were born together, just like twins."
"The birth was not easy," Yael adds, "but like in my previous births here, the nurses were really attentive to my needs, I felt wrapped both in the delivery room and later, in the hospital ward."
The new mothers, who are also new aunts, went up together to maternity ward D and were given a shared room, full of a warm and intimate family atmosphere. When they recovered from the experience, they acknowledged their good luck - both husbands managed to reach the moments of birth straight from the reserves.
"On Friday at noon, Yael's husband came to our mother's house, where I was because I felt like I was about to give birth. He said that Yael was due to give birth any minute. I asked him to tell her to wait for me a little," adds Moriah with a smile.
Shai, who was called to the reserves as a commander in the Gaza Strip already on the difficult Saturday, October 7, when his wife Yael was eight months pregnant, was already ready for the moment when he would be called to the long-awaited event. "For almost two months I have been preparing for this moment, I knew exactly who would replace me in command and how I would get to Yael. Everything worked as planned and I was able to make it to the birth. My amazing team in the reserves are updated on how we are doing every day, and I can't wait to get back to them and show them pictures of the new baby."
Eliezer, Moriah's husband, was also in reserve service in the northern sector when he was woken up in the middle of the night and arranged for someone to drive him to the hospital, shortly before the birth began.
"This is a great opportunity for a family reunion. There are no better circumstances," the sisters conclude just as another of their sisters, who also gave birth to a baby girl a month ago in Hadassah Ein Kerem, enters their room to visit.
