As Hilary Conway approached the due date of her second child, the Yakima, Washington OBGYN was excited to meet her daughter but saddened that she'd miss the deliveries of many of her patients.
So when she got a text saying that her patient Katie Moss's water had just broken on the morning of December 13, Conway — who had given birth herself just hours before — went to the nurse's station at Virginia Mason Memorial Hospital to ask if Moss had been admitted.
"It's always important for me to help my patients deliver," Conway, who gave birth to her daughter, Verna Pearson, on the afternoon of December 12, told TODAY Parents. "Each of my patients means so much to me, and I really try to be there for all of their deliveries. Honestly, I think it's harder on us as physicians to miss deliveries than it is for the patient — to miss the delivery is like missing the culmination of everything you have known for nine months and sometimes more."
Conway learned that Moss was laboring in the hospital room next door to hers. Conway fed her own baby, left her with one of the postpartum nurses, and headed into the delivery room.
Moss says she felt especially close to Conway during her pregnancy due to them being pregnant at the same time. Knowing her doctor had just given birth, Moss never imagined she would show up for her delivery.
"I was hoping to see her maybe the next day but not so soon and so awake," said Moss. "She looked completely normal — unlike she just had a baby half a day earlier. After laughing about how crazy it was that we were both in the hospital at the same time, she was like, 'Well, since I'm here, I might as well deliver your babies.'"
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Moss and her husband, Daniel, welcomed their twin sons, Luke and Soren, later that morning — around 14 hours after Conway had delivered baby Verna.
"Once it was all over and my boys were here, she simply said she was tired and going to get some more sleep before the morning," said Moss.
Conway says she doesn't consider delivering Moss' twins to be an amazing feat.
"What is amazing is how perfectly the timing worked out. This was a delivery I didn't want to miss, and somehow the stars aligned that she was admitted before I was discharged, she labored quickly so that I could deliver between feeds, and that I had given her my cell phone number," said Conway. "There was a whole lot of serendipity that allowed for this to happen."