HASTINGS, Minn. — As Identical Twins, Pat and Paul Young grew up as best buddies.
They now have something else in common.
The twin brothers just became first-time fathers. On the same day.
“This is Cooper Kenneth Young, born on Sept. 19, 2019,” says Paul, introducing his son.
“And this is Jack Todd Young, born on Sept. 19, 2019,” adds Pat, standing next to his brother with his own son in his arms.
The babies’ due dates were five days apart. But the new cousins had other plans.
“I got a text from Pat saying, ‘Just letting you know we're at the hospital,” Paul says.
Pat laughs and adds, “And then he texted me back and said, ‘So are we.’”
While Pat’s wife Ashley was in labor at Hastings' Regina Hospital, Paul’s wife Felicia was in labor at Woodwinds Hospital in Woodbury.
“I was racing back and forth between the hospitals,” Tammy Young, the twins’ mother, says.
Jack arrived at 6:01 p.m., but Cooper held out. After his mother spent 30 hours in labor, it looked like Cooper might make his appearance the next calendar day.
“Every time I'd go through a set of three pushes, everybody would look up at the clock,” Felicia says.
Not to worry.
Cooper arrived with eleven minutes to spare: 11:49 p.m.
“I always kind of thought, or knew, it was a possibility,” says Paul, “but I didn’t expect it to happen.”
Pat and Paul have plenty in common, including their occupations. Pat is a police officer in Cottage Grove, while Paul is a detective with the Hastings Police Department.
They do not, however, share common ground when it comes to football. So, Cooper sports a Packers onesie, while Jack is dressed in Vikings purple.
Their parents envision close cousins, “Except on game day,” Pat laughs.
Tammy sits in a rooking chair, a grandson in each arm.
“Feels just like old times,” she says. “Thirty-one years later.”