The number 11 repeatedly came up in the delivery of twin brothers who were born at the Icelandic national hospital Landspítali in Reykjavík on November 11, 2011, or 11.11.11.
Landspítali is the white building on the left. Photo by Dagbjört Oddný Matthíasdóttir.
“The first was the 11th baby born at Landspítali that day. He was born a quarter to 11 pm and the second at 11 pm. The weight of both boys at birth was just below 11 merkur,” their mother Anna Sigríður Pálsdóttir told Fréttablaðið.
Merkur is the unit used to measure the weight of newborns in Iceland. One mörk is 250 grams and so each twin weighted approximately 2,750 grams.
“It is of course a little special and to make it even more special, their cousin was born the same day,” said Anna Sigríður, adding that she did not specifically choose the date.
“I picked the first available time to have labor induction at the hospital,” she explained. The boy who was delivered first had some problems and had to be admitted to the neonatal unit. But he has now been discharged and the family was able to return home yesterday.
Anna Sigríður said she and the twins’ father Jón Ari Arason knew that they were expecting boys and so they have had plenty of time to contemplate on names. “But we won’t make them public until we’ve told our closest family members,” she added.
In Iceland the names of babies are often not made public until weeks or months after they are born.
ESA
