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New Year Twins Born 15 Minutes Apart Have Birthdays in Two Different Years

By Arnesia Young on January 4, 2022

Fraternal Twins Were Born on Different Days and in Different Years at Natividad Medical Center

As a new year begins, there are often stories covering the first baby born of the year, but what about twins who are often birthed just minutes apart? Well, the world is now celebrating a set of fraternal twins who were born 15 minutes apart in a California hospital, but they aren’t both New Year babies. In fact, they have birthdays on different days and even in different months and years! It sounds like the beginning of a word problem or a mind-boggling riddle, but it’s actually a true story.

When Fatima Madrigal and Robert Trujillo welcomed their two new bundles of joy on New Year’s Eve, they had no clue that their children would be such an anomaly. Delivered at Natividad Medical Center, their son Alfredo was born at 11:45 p.m. on December 31, 2021. And exactly fifteen minutes later, at the stroke of midnight, Madrigal gave birth to his twin sister Aylin on January 1, 2022. “It’s crazy to me that they are twins and have different birthdays,” Madrigal says of the birth. “I was surprised and happy that she arrived at midnight.” The twins will go home to their three older siblings—two girls and a boy—and Madrigal admits that her oldest son is so excited to finally have a baby brother.

Of course, every child is special, but Alfredo and Aylin Trujillo are in a league all their own. According to the hospital, there are about 120,000 twin births every year in the U.S., which make up just a little over 3% of all births. But it is even rarer for twins to be born with different birthdays, not to mention in different years. Some estimate the chances of twins being born in two different years like the Trujillo twins are about one in 2 million.

“This was definitely one of the most memorable deliveries of my career,” says Dr. Ana Abril Arias, a family doctor at Natividad Medical Group and faculty at Natividad. “It was an absolute pleasure to help these little ones arrive here safely in 2021 and 2022. What an amazing way to start the New Year!”