California mom gives birth to twins in different years

KERN COUNTY, California (WABC) -- A set of twins was born just minutes apart in California, but amazingly, in two different years.

Maria Espernza Flores Rios is celebrating the rare birth after she was originally due on January 27, then had a C-section scheduled for January 10. But at 11:58 p.m. on December 31, just two minutes before the new year, Joaquin Ontiveros was born, weighing in at 5 pounds, 9 ounces and 18 inches long.

Doctors say his twin sister, Aitana de Jesus, was slightly breached and had to be delivered via C-section. She was born at 12:16 a.m., 18 minutes after her brother but technically in the next year.

She weighed in at 4 pounds, 10 ounces and was 16 inches long.

"I feel really happy because I just had my two babies," the new mom said.

But even exhaustion couldn't keep that loving look off her face, of course before any naps could be taken, a picture showed the staff who helped deliver Kern County's first baby of 2018.