US twins born in different years due to 15-minute gap
What's the story
A brother and sister were born 15 minutes apart but in separate years in an unusual delivery of twins in California, United States.
Alfredo Antonio was born about 11:45 pm on December 31, 2021, and his sister Aylin was born just at midnight, making her year of birth 2022.
"It's crazy to me that they are twins and have different birthdays," said their mother.
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Why does it matter?
It is a rare event for twins to have different birth dates, let alone different birth months or years.
The doctor who delivered the babies said it was "one of the most memorable deliveries."
While one's birthday will be celebrated on December 31, the other's will be celebrated on January 1.
Although rare, similar cases have been reported in the past as well.
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Both babies born healthy
Aylin and Alfredo were born at Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, California.
"It was an absolute pleasure to help these little ones arrive here safely in 2021 and 2022," said Dr. Ana Abril Arias.
According to the hospital, Aylin weighed 5 pounds 14 ounces and Alfredo weighed 6 pounds 1 ounce.
There are three siblings for the fraternal twins: two girls and one boy.
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Extremely rare incident: US CDC
There's a slim chance that twins will be born on separate days, months, or years, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In fact, only approximately 3% of the 3.75 million births in the United States in 2019 were twins.
Twin births occurring in the limited window between December and January are said to be even rarer.