Nobody Knows Which Of These Twins Is "Older"

Last week a hospital in Cape Cod asked Facebook followers a riddle: “Samuel was born first, but his twin brother Ronan is older. How is that possible?” It turns out that this time-conundrum is due to the recent time change: The twins were born during the daylight savings time transition, flipping their real birth order. I have to say, as a Doctor Who fan, this story makes my nerd brain so happy. It is the epitome of “wibbly, wobbly, timey, wimey… stuff.”

Proud parents Emily and Seth Peterson, who live in West Barnstable, MA, welcomed their new baby boys in the early hours of Sunday, November 6. Samuel was born first, at 1:39 am, followed by his brother Ronan just over half an hour later. So far, it seems pretty straightforward, right? Samuel was born first, and he’s older.

But here’s where it gets tricky: At 2 am that morning, the clocks changed because of daylight saving time, and 2 am was reset to an hour earlier. So even though Ronan was born 31 minutes after Samuel, officially Ronan was born at 1:10 am — 29 minutes before his older brother. Or should I say “younger brother”? Is your brain hurting yet?

Emily Peterson tells Bustle that she thought something funny might happen with her twins’ birthdays. “My husband said when it was coming closer the boys being born, ‘Well, either they'll be born on two different days or daylight savings is going to come into play,’” she explains. She says that she hadn’t thought about “the possibility of an age twist” before the babies were born, and was worried that the twins might end up having different birthdays. “I was more concerned that I'd have to have two birthday parties back to back for the next 15 years!” she remarks.

Hopefully, the twins will come to love their brain-bending birthday story. For her part, Emily tells Bustle, “I hope that they both feel special and first in their own way, but I bet they'll have a few good battles over it.”

When it comes to decorating Samuel and Ronan’s nursery, might I humbly suggest TARDIS blue? It goes with everything.

Images: karenwarfel/Pixabay; Cape Cod Healthcare/Facebook