California twins born 15 minutes apart, but in different years
Aylin Trujillo (L) arrived at Natividad Medical Center in Salinas California, 15 minutes after her twin brother, Alfredo Trujillo (R), who was born in 2021. (Credit: Provided / Natividad)
SALINAS, Calif. - Two twins born in California will likely share many things throughout life, but their birthday will not be one of them.
Twins Aylin and Alfredo Trujillo entered the world just 15 minutes apart at Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, California. But because of the unique timing, they were born on different days, months and years.
Alfredo Antonio Trujillo, delivered first at 11:45 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2021. His twin sister, Aylin Yolanda Trujillo, entered the world exactly at midnight on Jan. 1, making her the first baby born at the hospital and across Monterey County in 2022.
Aylin weighed in at 5 pounds, 14 ounces, while big brother Alfredo weighed 6 pounds, 1 ounce, according to a press release announcing the births.
"It’s crazy to me that they are twins and have different birthdays," their mother, Fatima Madrigal, said in a statement. "I was surprised and happy that she arrived at midnight."
Mother Fatima Madrigal is pictured holding her twins at Natividad Medical Center in Salinas, California. (Credit: Provided / Natividad)
The fraternal twins join three older siblings, two girls and a boy. Madrigal said her oldest son was excited that one of the babies was a boy and that her family couldn’t wait to meet them.
There are about 120,000 twin births in the U.S. each year, making up just over 3% of all births, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. But twins with different birthdays are rare.
Some estimate that the odds of twins being born in different years is one in 2 million. In Indiana, a similarly unique story happened in early 2020 when a family welcomed twins born in different decades.
Dr. Ana Abril Arias, who delivered the twins, called their births "an amazing way to start the New Year."
"This was definitely one of the most memorable deliveries of my career," Dr. Ana Abril Arias, a family doctor at Natividad Medical Group and faculty at Natividad, said in a statement. "It was an absolute pleasure to help these little ones arrive here safely in 2021 and 2022."
This story was reported from Cincinnati.