A woman had triple the reason to celebrate after earning her PhD three days before giving birth to twins — and the staff of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Birth Center in Seattle made sure that she indeed celebrated. Sarah Tov graduated from the University of Washington with her PhD in special education and disability studies on May 7, 2024. Just a few days later, her twins were delivered prematurely via C-section at 33 weeks and 6 days.
The twins were conceived through a shared IVF process with iea tov’s (Sarah's wife's) eggs along with donor sperm from a friend close to the couple. "The care team at the [obstetrician] clinic to the labor and delivery department were just really amazing in terms of how much they cared for us," said iea tov, who uses zey/zem pronouns and spells zeir name in lowercase letters. "It became a lot more beautiful of a celebration than what Sarah thought was gonna happen."
"They really took it to the next level," Sarah Tov shared. "One of the nurses made confetti from scratch. The [OB-GYN] brought a cake. Someone made a sign. There was a whole decoration. Another nurse played the graduation song as I walked." When the twins, Zayit Zohar and Simcha, were discharged from the NICU on June 7, 2024, the Virginia Mason staff threw them their own graduations as well.
More from LittleThings: Louisiana Couple Welcomed Identical Twin Girls 6 Years After Welcoming Identical Twin Boys
Dr. Leizl Sapico, the OB-GYN who delivered the twins, said the celebrations were very special. "I was just so proud of her," the doctor said, referring to Sarah. "To be able to celebrate and find joy, knowing that the circumstances for when these babies were born was a scary time but we all wanted to make sure that Sarah still got to celebrate this great achievement that she had. And so, it was very touching to be there. It's something that you don't forget. This is one of those things that gets to go in my memory journal."
