Nature doesn’t stop for a party. While revelers sipped champagne on New Year’s Eve, it was midnight madness for parents welcoming their babies into the world.
And what a difference a few minutes makes for parents of multiples: At least two sets of twins in North America were born on either side of midnight, with one child arriving in 2013 and the other in 2014. They’re not even a day old and their parents already have a story to tell for the rest of their lives, not to mention quirky birthday certificates to frame and creative birthday parties to plan.
In Washington D.C, mom Yaleni Tohalino was beaming after giving 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.
Lorraine Yaleni Begazo weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces, while her brother Brandon Ferdinando Begazo weighed 5 pounds, 10 ounces, according to MedStar Washington Hospital Center, where the babies were delivered via Caesarean section.
Both newborns are happy, healthy and doing great, the hospital said. Dad Warren Begazo told doctors the family would celebrate both birthdays on New Year's Day, but promised each child will have their own cake.
He already sees a difference in the twins: his daughter is more active and cries a lot, while his son is always sleeping.
"They're beautiful," Begazo told NBC News affiliate NBC4 Washington. "They're beautiful, full developed, active and amazing human beings."
The babies, who were conceived with the help of in vitro fertilization, were due in three weeks, but doctors became worried about the boy's heart rate and decided to deliver them early, Begazo told NBC.
Meanwhile, a family in Toronto is also celebrating their special 2013 and 2014 arrivals.
Lindsay Salgueiro and Christian Rodriguez welcomed baby Gabriela at 11:52 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and her sister Sophia at 12:00:38 a.m. on January 1.
The girls weighed 6 pounds, 16 ounces; and 5 pounds, 13 ounces, respectively, according to Trillium Health Partners Credit Valley Hospital.