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San Diego Twins Born Three Minutes Apart — In Different Years

By Aaron Homer
Published on: 11:17 PST, Jan 2, 2016

Two twins, a boy and a girl, were born three minutes apart at a San Diego hospital – but in different years.

Little Jaelyn, a girl, was born at 11:59 p.m. on December 31, 2015. Her brother, Luis, was born at 12:02 a.m. on January 1, 2016. Their parents are 22-year-old Maribel Valencia and her husband, Luis.

The twins had been scheduled to arrive by C-section on January 6, but apparently they decided to come earlier.

Dad Luis, a diesel mechanic with the navy, said he and his wife were thinking the babies’ birth could be special, depending on how things played out with the timing. He was hoping they would be the first two San Diego babies of 2016.

“We were actually watching the clock. We wanted to see if we were one of the first ones.”

First and last, more like it: Jaelyn was the last baby born in San Diego County in 2015, and Luis was the first.

The nurses on duty that night were also watching the clock, knowing that something special could be happening. Nurse Lynnette Coetzee said the twins’ birth in different years was one of the more unusual things she’s seen in her nursing career.

“It’s very unusual and it’s very special, and I haven’t seen it in all my 34 years of nursing.”

Mom Maribel, who works at San Diego International Airport, was hoping the twins wouldn’t be born in different years, says Luis.

“[Maribel] really wanted to have the babies on the same birthday because you know later on in the years, they’re going to have a little confrontation and be like, ‘my birthday came first,’ so it means two birthday parties, back to back.”

Coetzee also noticed that younger brother Luis, even though he’s younger by only three minutes, will still have an older sister who won’t let him hear the end of it.

“I think she’s the little girl; she’s gonna be pulling rank the whole time because she’s gonna be the older one. He’s gonna have a hard time living that down.”

Both twins were 18.5 inches long. Jaelyn weighed four pounds 15 ounces. Luis weighed five pounds nine ounces. Mom and the twins are happy and healthy. The twins are joined by their older sister, 3-year-old Isabella.

The San Diego twins are not the first twins born in different years — it happened in 2013/2014, in Washington, D.C. Mom Yaleni Tohalino gave birth to a girl at 11:58 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and a boy at 12:01 a.m. on New Year’s Day. At the same time (more or less) over in Toronto, Lindsay Salgueiro and Christian Rodriguez welcomed baby Gabriela at 11:52 p.m. on December 31 and her sister Sophia at 12:00:38 a.m. on January 1.

In other 2016 baby news, the first baby born in the U.S. in 2016 is one of two New York babies, depending on which hospital you choose to believe, according to ABC News. According to New York City Health & Hospitals/Coney Island, baby Zayden Noel was born “at the stroke of midnight,” to mom Stephanie Diaz. Meanwhile, over at LIJ Medical Center in Queens, parents Daniella and Eli Malakov welcomed a strapping baby boy. In keeping with the parents’ Jewish tradition, the new baby won’t be given a name until his bris next week.

Other hospitals up and down the Eastern Time Zone also welcomed babies in the early hours of 2016, but New York is claiming their two New Year’s Day babies are the first.

[Image via Shutterstock/Patryk Kosminder]

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