Juan Velasco said he certainly didn't plan it this way, but he and his wife Margarita now have identical twin sons, born in different years.
It happened at Tampa General Hospital during emergency surgery.
The first of the twins, named Marcello, was delivered at 11:59:37 p.m. Thursday. He's the last baby born at TGH in 2009.
His brother, Stephano, was delivered at 12:00:02 a.m. Friday. He is the first baby born at TGH in 2010.
"We never think that we would be the first of the year, or the last of the year, nothing like that," said Velasco. "But I'm really happy."
The twins were born at 30 weeks' gestation, so they had to go to the neonatal intensive care unit, according to Catherine Lynch, the University of South Florida doctor who delivered the babies.
Lynch said the surgery was necessary because one of the babies was not receiving as much nutrition from the placenta as his brother. She expects both babies will be in the NICU about eight weeks.
And they'll always have different birthdays, even though they were born seconds apart.
"So they'll always be twins, but now they each have their own special day," said Lynch.
Lynch said this New Year's Eve was the busiest at TGH in recent memory, with five babies born in the three hours before midnight, and five more delivered in the three hours after midnight.
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