'Big brother' dispute: Twin boys' ages unclear due to daylight saving time

Talk to any twins you know, and you will likely find the one who popped out first thinks he or she is entitled to the bragging rights of being the eldest. But for a pair of Massachusetts twins born early Sunday, that usually obvious fact was thrown into question when one boy was born before the start of daylight saving time and the other after, technically making the latter twin the older brother.

Emily Peterson gave birth to the first baby, Samuel, at 1:39 a.m., before clocks turned back at 2 a.m., Cape Cod Healthcare shared on their Facebook page. Then, 31 minutes later, she delivered Ronan. Because Ronan’s birth came after the time change, his official birth time was 1:10 a.m., not 2:10 a.m.

The West Barnstable couple thought the time change could be an issue when they headed to the hospital.

“I said earlier that night that they were either going to be born on two different days or the time change was going to come into play,” Seth Peterson, a trooper with the Massachusetts State Police, said, according to the hopsital's Facebook page.

Deb Totten, a maternity nurse at Cape Cod Hospital, said the Peterson twins’ birth is the first such instance she’s seen in more than 40 years of nursing.