On Valentine’s Day, 36-year-old Tressa Montalvo and 43-year-old Manuel Montalvo, Jr. became the happy parents of two sets of identical twins (two boys sharing one placenta and two boys sharing another placenta). The four boys were delivered at 31 weeks by Dr. Joanie Hare of Houston Perinatal Associates (HPA).
The four were born within moments of one another via Cesarean section at The Woman’s Hospital of Texas. Ace and Blaine, were born at 8:51 a.m. weighing 3 lbs., 10 oz., and 3 lbs., 15 oz. Cash and Dylan were just one minute behind, born at 8:52 a.m. weighing 2 lbs., 15 oz., and 3 lbs., 6 oz.
“We tried to stick to the A-B-C-D theme when naming them,” said Tressa. “We didn’t expect it, we were trying for just one and we were blessed with four.”
When Tressa was just ten weeks pregnant, her physician told her she was having twins, and on a subsequent visit, the doctor detected a third heartbeat. The Montalvos were then referred to Dr. Brian Kirshon, a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist with Houston Perinatal Associates (HPA) at The Woman’s Hospital of Texas.
“We couldn’t have been more surprised when Dr. Kirshon told us we were having four babies and that they were two sets of twins,” Manuel laughed. “We were trying for one little brother or sister for our two-and-a-half year old son, Memphis.”
Tressa laughed too, saying, “No fertility drugs were used. We planned the pregnancy―I guess we just succeeded a little too much!”
Their odds of delivering two sets of naturally occurring identical twins is somewhere in the range of 1-in-70 million.
The Montalvos will be a busy family with five boys! But, they say they’re not done yet, “We want a girl,” said Manuel with a smile.
