Madison Knight and her best friend Jamesen discovered they were pregnant at the same time – but that’s not the biggest surprise in the story

Madison Knight couldn’t believe her luck when she found out she was pregnant at the same time as her best friend — but the biggest shock of all came when she saw her friend’s sonograms.

Madison, 28, and her best friend Jamesen Hicks, 26, first met in 2020. They were introduced by Jamesen’s aunt, who thought the two would hit it off. When their husbands met and the foursome got along, things felt fated.

In July 2024, Madison discovered she was pregnant. For the past few years, she and Jamesen and gone through all the big milestones together, from engagements to getting married. And since they’d always talked about having kids together, Madison wanted nothing more than to be pregnant at the same time as Jamesen.

“When I saw that positive test, it felt completely surreal because my husband and I weren’t actively trying to get pregnant,” Madison tells PEOPLE. “I had recently stopped taking birth control, not to start trying immediately, but simply to give my body a break. I genuinely didn’t think I would get pregnant so quickly. I was shocked, nervous and happy all at once.”

Her first thought?

“I knew immediately I had to tell Jamesen,” she says. “We had always talked about wanting our kids to grow up together, and she’s the person I share everything with. She was the very first person to find out I was pregnant.”

From the beginning, Madison joked about having twins. She says she had a “strong, gut feeling” that she was having more than one baby and it only grew stronger as she got closer to her first ultrasound. When she went into the doctor, she was shocked to learn that she’d been right.

“I was shocked that my instinct had been right, but I couldn’t stop smiling because deep down, I had known it all along,” Madison says. “The moment we left the appointment, I told my husband I needed to tell Jamesen in person. We met up right afterward, and when I showed her the ultrasound, she was so surprised and excited for us.”

Then in October, Jamesen called Madison and said she’d seen a faint line on her pregnancy test. Madison remembers driving straight over to her best friend’s house, where they found out together that Jamesen was pregnant. Again, Madison started joking that Jamesen was having twins.

“We always laughed, because it seemed so unlikely,” says Madison. “But deep down, a part of me hoped she would, so I wouldn’t be going through the twin journey alone.”

After Jamesen went in for her first ultrasound, she called Madison right after to meet up with her so she could show her the sonogram photos.

“I immediately felt like something was up, because that’s exactly how I told her about my twins,” recalls Madison. “When I saw the ultrasound, I noticed two sacs and said, ‘Wait…are there two?’ She told me to keep counting. That’s when I realized, there were three. Triplets.”

Madison says she was “speechless” and started crying happy tears. She explains that she couldn’t believe she was pregnant at the same time as Jamesen, and also that they were both expecting multiples.

“It felt like one of those rare moments in life where everything aligns in a way that just feels meant to be,” she says.

Madison gave birth in February 2025 to her daughter Sutton and son Barrett. Jamesen gave birth in March 2025 to her sons Campbell, Graham and Bennett, making their kids three months apart. Both women delivered early, and all of their babies spent time in the NICU.

“My son stayed in the NICU for a month, was discharged, but had to be readmitted for several more weeks,” says Madison. “My daughter remained in the NICU for 69 days. At one point, she was transferred to a different hospital with a higher-level NICU because doctors thought she might need a G-Tube. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, and she was able to come home without surgery.”

Jamesen often came to the NICU with Madison, and the two would sit together while Madison’s husband was at work. Although Madison remembers the time as “incredibly isolating” and “one of the hardest seasons of my life,” she was able to rely on her best friend to help her get through the worst of it.

A month before Jamesen delivered, she was placed on hospital bed rest in another state. Her pregnancy was high-risk, so she had to be monitored by a doctor in Florida. Although Madison couldn’t be there with Jamesen in person, they talked every single day.

“We supported each other through some of the most difficult moments we had ever faced,” says Madison.

Now that both women are home with their families, Madison says it’s been “so much fun” raising their kids together.

“Now that they are a little older, their personalities are starting to show,” she says to PEOPLE. “It can be a little chaotic sometimes but it’s a beautiful kind of chaos. Every single one of them is happy, healthy and thriving, which is such an incredible blessing since they were all born at 32 weeks.”

Madison and Jamesen live ten minutes apart and take turns visiting each other’s homes. They even share everything from toys to baby gear.

“It makes life easier because with multiples, you end up with more than enough of everything. We all love each other’s kids, and it really is all hands on deck,” Madison says.

“It’s also comforting to have someone so close who truly understands what it’s like to have multiples. Everything becomes a little more challenging…simple things like going to the grocery store, grabbing dinner, or running errands suddenly require so much more planning,” she continues.

“It helps so much to go out with her and her babies because it reminds me that I’m not doing this alone. Sometimes we’re struggling side by side, and other times we’re laughing through the chaos but it’s nice that we get to do it together.”