Twin Babies Born Minutes, Years Apart

It might sound impossible, but a woman gave birth to twins years apart. Still, you might be wondering how this could happen.

For mother Yaleni Begazo, who gave birth at the Washington Hospital Center, she had a little help from the New Year to make this story plausible.

According to MedStar, she gave birth to her twin babies literally minutes apart but also years. At 11:58 p.m., Tuesday, a girl, Lorraine Yaleni Begazo was born. However, another baby was waiting to ring in the start of the New Year. At 12:01 a.m., Wednesday, Brandon Ferdinando Begazo came into the world.

USA Today notes that at this time, the baby and their mother are doing well.

While twin births and other multiples are certainly more of a rarity than you might think, statistics from the National Center for Health note that from 1980 to 2009, the rate of twin births rose to 76 percent. This means that in the United States today, approximately one in 30 babies will be a twin.

Much of the increase can probably be explained by the growing use of fertility drugs, according to The New York Times.

However, with more babies during a pregnancy also comes a higher risk.

"Babies in twin deliveries tend to be born earlier," said an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, via the news organization. "They're more likely to need hospitalization and more likely not to survive their first year."

However, she concludes that "It's important to note that although twins are at higher risk, most twins do fine in the long term."