Meet the twins who don't share the same birth year

A New Jersey family welcomed twins who were born not only on different days, but in different years as well.

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 hoping for the perfect birthday present: his twin sons being born on his birthday.

The expectant parents met with Dr. Melissa Yurkanin, along with the labor and delivery team, at Virtua Voorhees Hospital.

“We had actually been joking when I walked into the room and said, 'Oh, wouldn't it be funny if you had two babies on two different days, maybe two different years,'” Yurkanin said.

And that's exactly what happened. At 11:48 pm on December 31, 2023, Eve gave birth to her first baby, Ezra.

“At first we thought we had 12 minutes to try to get another one,” said Billy Humphrey, relishing the possibility of sharing his own birthday with his twin sons.

But the 2023 clock was ticking and 2024 was approaching fast.

As Yurkanin and the nurses counted to 10 to control Eve's breathing and pushing, “you could hear people outside the room counting and shouting Happy New Year as she was between babies 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% of live births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And Yurkanin said that the probability of twins being born on different days is a rare phenomenon.

“I will say that during my time in practice, I have never had twins born even on two different days, let alone in two different years,” Yurkanin told CNN.

Billy imagines the single birth will bring joy between the twin brothers for years to come. “I’m definitely thinking they’re going to make jokes about it,” he said.

If he were Ezra, “I'd put it in my brother's head all day: 'I'm a year older,'” Billy said.

The birth of the twins was a continuation of the Humphrey family celebrations. The parents celebrated their birthday in early December, along with Eve's birthday, and their 3-year-old son, Hezekiah, whose birthday is January 3.

“I have three boys and now we all have birthdays close to each other,” Billy told CNN.

“Obviously, my birthday takes a backseat at this point,” he continued. “I can at least enjoy Father’s Day.”

When his children are older, he plans to go on father-son trips this time of year to celebrate all their birthdays.

“Just the four of us, this will give Mom some time to relax at home,” Billy said.

Ezra and Ezekiel made history at Virtua Voorhees Hospital and beat all the odds, and the chances of Eve and Billy doing it again are even slimmer.

“That’s it for us, we don’t want any more [filhos],” Billy laughed. “We are both thrilled to have three healthy boys.”