Births bring Elgin brothers together

It had been three months since Steve Robledo had seen his brother Juan.

The two last spoke when their father died unexpectedly in June.

On Monday, Steve's wife, Rocio, went into labor with the Elgin couple's third child.

Steve brought his wife to Sherman Hospital in Elgin Monday morning.

As they headed up to the neonatal unit, Rocio thought she saw her brother-in-law, Juan, whose wife was also expecting.

"I just thought she was delirious," Steve said.

Steve headed to the cafeteria to get tea for his wife - and ran into his brother.

"I walked by and saw him," Juan said. "I said, 'Steve, what are you doing here?'"

Juan's wife, it turned out, had checked into Sherman earlier that morning.

In the hours leading up to the birth of their children, Steve and Juan went back and forth between their hospital rooms and talked on the phone.

"I told my brother, 'You're going to be first,' but within 15 minutes, my wife was completely dilated," Steve said.

Steve's daughter, named Emma Grace Robledo after Rocio's grandmother, was born first, at 9:39 p.m.

Steve closed his eyes as he walked over to his third daughter. His first, 11-year-old Karina, had been born without fingers on her left hand.

"When I saw she was complete and healthy, it was just a blessing for us," Steve said.

At 9:49 p.m., just ten minutes after Emma was born, Juan's wife, Kim, gave birth to Bernardino Antonio Robledo ­- named after Steve and Juan's late father.

Emma weighed six pounds, four ounces; Bernardino was seven pounds, four ounces.

When they learned of the coincidences, the brothers hugged each other and expressed amazement.

"Wow, this is incredible," Steve said to his brother. "What are the odds?"

As his wife recuperated Tuesday and his sister-in-law rested across the hall, Steve reflected on the previous night's events.

"Our father's passing was difficult, but life goes on,"said Steve, a pastor at Lighthouse Community Church in Elgin. "It's a new beginning. Even though we lose our loved ones, God gives us a new beginning."

Steve and Juan, who also lives in Elgin, joked with each other Tuesday as they held their newborn babies side by side, wrapped in identical white blankets.

"How are we going to forget birthdays now?" said Juan, holding his fifth child.

"Now I'll go to church," Juan said. "Now I believe in miracles."