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A New Jersey family has welcomed twins who were born not only on different days, but in different years.
Around 6 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, Eve Humphrey woke up and told her husband, “Happy birthday, my water just broke.”
Although his wife’s due date wasn’t until January 26, Billy Humphrey said he was anticipating a perfect birthday gift: his twin boys being born on his birthday.
The expecting parents met with Dr. Melissa Yurkanin, along with the labor and delivery team, at the Virtua Voorhees Hospital.
“We had actually joked when I went into the room and said, ‘Oh, wouldn’t this be funny if you had two babies on two separate days, maybe two separate years,’” Yurkanin said.
And that is exactly what happened. At 11:48 p.m. on the 31st, Eve gave birth to the first baby, Ezra, who has the official birthdate of December 31, 2023, which written as a numerical date of 12/31/23 reads as 1-2-3-1-2-3.
“At first we’re thinking and we got 12 minutes to try to get out another one,” Billy Humphrey said, basking in the possibility of sharing his own birthday with his twin sons.
But the 2023 clock was ticking, and 2024 was coming in fast.
While Yurkanin and the nurses were counting up to 10 to pace Eve’s breathing and pushing, “You could hear people outside the room counting down and shouting Happy New Year as she was in between baby A and B,” Yurkanin said.
Then, 28 minutes into 2024, Eve gave birth to Ezekiel, born exactly 40 minutes after his twin brother.
Twins make up about 3 per cent of live births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And Yurkanin said the odds of twins being born on different days is a rare phenomenon.
“I will say that in my time practicing, I’ve never had twins born even on two separate days, let alone two separate years,” Yurkanin told CNN.
Billy imagines the unique birth will bring joy between the twin brothers in years to come. “I’m definitely thinking they will make jokes about it,” he said.
If he was Ezra, “I would hold that over my brother’s head all day, ‘I’m a year older,’” Billy said.
The birth of the twins was a continuation of celebrations in the Humphrey family. The parents celebrated their anniversary early December, along with Eve’s birthday, and their 3-year-old son, Hezekiah, has a birthday on January 3.
“I got three boys and now, all of us have birthdays near each other,” Billy told CNN.
“Obviously, my birthday takes the back seat at this point,” he continued. “I can at least hold onto Father’s Day.”
When his sons get older, he plans to take father-son trips around this time of year to celebrate all of their birthdays.
“Just the four of us, that will give mom a break, to relax at home,” Billy said.
Ezra and Ezekiel made history at the Virtua Voorhees Hospital and beat the odds, and the chances of Eve and Billy doing it again is even slimmer.
“This is it for us, we don’t want to have any more [kids],” Billy laughed.
“We’re both excited just to have three healthy boys.”
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