The other patient, birthday twins and Double Chai

by | Oct 28, 2019 | Other News

Carly Glikman and Allena Anglen with their newborns.

On June 25, Carly Glikman went to Sentara Leigh Hospital for a scheduled C-Section to deliver her second child. Glikman is United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s outreach manager.

When the nurse started to prep Glikman for the procedure, she was told to stop and was pulled away. “I was told, ‘another patient is progressing quicker than we expected. We will have to deliver her son first and you’ll have to wait,’” says Glikman.

Due to the ‘other patient’s quick delivery, Glikman’s daughter was delivered about an hour later.

That night, Glikman saw a friend’s new baby post on Facebook.

“I saw that Allena had her son 36 minutes before me,” says Glikman.

Glikman and Allena Anglen became friends after meeting at a Young Adult Division Happy Hour. Anglen teaches elementary school students at Norfolk Public Schools. She created the Toddlin’ Around Tidewater blog.

“I texted Allena from my hospital bed, ‘where are you?” Glikman says.

“Which doctor delivered your baby?”

After texts back and forth, Glikman and Anglen discovered they did in fact have the same doctor, and their babies were born 36 minutes apart. Anglen recalls hearing the staff talk about a C-section being pushed back because her labor was so fast.

Now they both knew. Their friend was the ‘other’ patient.

“My labor was in the blink of an eye,” says Anglen, “I heard the doctors talking about the other patient who would have to wait. I had no idea it was Carly. When you think of all that happened so quickly, it’s amazing what they can do in 36 minutes.”

“Chai is life. 36 is Double Chai,” says Glikman. “This isn’t a big city. It’s pretty amazing to me that we are friends, both Jewish, in the same hospital and had our babies 36 minutes apart. What a great story to tell at their wedding!”

Lisa Richmon