Babies Hear the Call: 11-11-11

A special day for birthdays

For hundreds of babies across the Tri-State area, and tens of thousands (if not more) around the world, November 11th, 2011 will be a birthday unlike any others -- at least for the next hundred years.

It's all in the numbers: 11-11-11.

"She has a really cool birthday," Maggie Van Dongen of Wayne, N.J., said her doctor told her.

So yes, this palindrome of a number (it reads the same forwards and backwards) is a "cool" date to be born on and to celebrate for the rest of your life.

But for Angelina Irene Van Dongen, the number 11 is even more special.

Her parents Maggie and John shared a secret that they've held for years. At 11:11 pm almost every night, they make their wishes for each other and their family. And for a long time, that wish was to have baby Angelina.

"Just the numbers were the same on both sides of the clock," explained John Van Dongen about why they picked that particular time to make their wishes.

While she wasn't conceived on Valentine's Day, as many around the world apparently were, Angelina was born on 11-11-11 following the wishes her parents would make at 11:11 at night.

And then there was her birth weight: 6 pounds and yes, 11 ounces.

One more thing: After her appearance at Hackensack University Medical Center's Maternity Ward, she made her debut to the rest of the world on NBC New York's 11 o'clock news.

Follow Brian Thompson on Twitter @brian4NY

Contact Us