CUDDLY COUSINS BORN ON SAME DAY : CUDDLY COUSINS TO SHARE BIRTHDAY.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

The two sisters felt a little overwhelmed by the excitement their two newborn daughters had created in the halls of the Simi Valley Hospital maternity ward Wednesday morning.

After all, Joomi Lim, 26, gave birth just before 4 a.m. after just a few hours of labor - a relief, she thought, considering the horror stories she'd heard about first-time deliveries. And Joori Kim, 32, checked in at the hospital around 6 a.m., on schedule for her 8 a.m. Caesarean section.

Still, the nurses couldn't stop talking about it. Imagine, they said, two sisters having two daughters about 6 pounds each on the same morning, driving over from the same Burbank apartment building to give birth.

Their father took it as a good sign.

``Very lucky,'' Tong Lee said.

Their mother, Kyung Lee, figured it was to be expected from two sisters who have always been very much alike despite being the oldest and youngest of their four children.

And it all happened because of a few coincidences - a little give and take between the biological clock and modern medicine.

Joomi Lim's due date had been two weeks before Joori Kim's. But the baby didn't want to come out, and Dr. John Koh scheduled an appointment for today so he could induce labor.

Koh had already made a Wednesday appointment for Joori Kim, who had given birth to a son, now 3, by C-section and would do the same this time around. It is typical to perform the operation a week before the due date.

Koh had been the Kims' obstetrician nine years ago, and they followed him from a San Fernando Valley hospital to the Simi hospital because they felt comfortable with his care and similar Korean background.

The plan fell apart, however, when baby Joann Lim decided that today simply would not do. Joomi Lim's water broke at 1 a.m., sending her husband Sung Jun Lim into a panic. He called Joori's husband, Sang Kim, for advice. Wait, Sang Kim said. It would take a few hours.

But minutes later, Joomi and Sung Jun Lim walked the 20 paces to the Kims' apartment to say it was time to go, and they sped off to the hospital. Joomi gave birth to Joann at 3:52 a.m. She weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces.

``I was really nervous. I called for advice because it's my first baby,'' Sung Jun Lim said. ``When we got to the hospital, it took one and a half hours. It was a long time for me, because she was in pain.''

Meanwhile, Sang Kim was a bit surprised. He'd figured it would take Joomi Lim hours to deliver the baby.

``I knew they were going to be on the same day, but I thought they were going to have it after us - in the afternoon,'' Sang Kim said.

Grace Kim was delivered at 7:58 a.m., weighing 6 pounds, 4 ounces.

Hours later, the maternity ward was still abuzz.``I don't ever remember this happening,'' nurse Sharon Martin said.

The Lims and Kims didn't seem amazed by the coincidence as much as by their daughters. The births on the same day merely saved the sisters' parents an extra trip from Burbank, Sang Kim said.

``They can come to the hospital and just take a look at both all at once,'' he said. ``It makes it easier.''

Joori Kim was still groggy from anesthesia, and Joomi Lim said she hadn't slept much since the labor pains woke her up in the middle of the night. But they brightened when they talked about the new additions to the family.

``I expected it would be a girl because the first child was a boy, and I prayed,'' Joori Kim said. ``And it felt different. The shape was different. The first one was flat. But this one was more round.''

On the other side of the curtain, Joomi Lim gently cradled Joann.

``She's trying to sleep now,'' she said. ``It's really cute.''

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Photo: (Color) Newborns Grace Kim and Joann Lim cry and sleep as new mother Joomi Lim rests from her ordeal Wednesday in Simi Valley.

Andy Holzman/Special to the Daily News