Twin sons of different decades delivered at TGH

Juan Velasco said he certainly didn't plan it this way, but he and his wife Margarita now have identical twin sons, born in two different decades.

It happened at Tampa General Hospital during emergency surgery.

The first of the twins, named Marcello, was delivered at 11:59:37 p.m. He's the last baby born at TGH in 2009.

His brother, Stephano, was delivered at 12:00:02 a.m. 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 NICU, according to Catherine Lynch, the USF 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.

Stephano Velasco was one of two babies born at TGH just after the clock struck midnight.

Isamarie Duran gave birth to her first child Zurina Vazquez at 12:00:20 a.m. Unlike the Velasco family, Duran wanted to have the first baby of 2010.

A mid-wife helped her deliver as they watched the New Year's celebrations on television.

"It was hard because I felt her coming, but we really wanted a New Year's baby so I had to hold her in, and it worked," said Duran.

Dr. 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.

While there was a lot of hoopla about the twins at TGH, a new father at St. Joseph's Women's Hospital believes he may have the first baby born in Tampa in 2010.

A hospital spokesperson confirms Kaylan Ann McDaniel was delivered one second after midnight. Jeffrey McDaniel said his daughter Kaylan weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces and was 19 inches long.