Tressa and Manuel Montalvo. Tressa gave birth to two sets of identical twins on Valentine's Day.
Photographer: Kris Muller/The Woman's Hospital of Texas/CNN
Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted: 02/19/2013
A Texas woman got a quadruple Valentine's Day gift this year, giving birth to four babies -- two sets of identical twins.
Ace, Blaine, Cash and Dylan Montalvo were born at the Woman's Hospital of Texas in Houston to Tressa Montalvo, 36, and her husband, Manuel, 43, of Houston.
Ace and Blaine were first, born at 8:51 a.m. and weighing 3 pounds, 10 ounces, and 3 pounds, 15 ounces, respectively, the hospital said. Cash and Dylan were a minute later and weighed 2 pounds, 15 ounces and 3 pounds, 6 ounces. All four were born by cesarean section.
"We tried to stick to the A-B-C-D theme when naming them," Tressa Montalvo said in a statement the hospital released.
The twins were not the result of fertility treatments, the hospital said. Tressa Montalvo learned she was carrying twins at 10 weeks.
A third heartbeat was found at a later doctor's visit, and the Montalvos were referred to a maternal fetal medicine specialist, Dr. Brian Kirshon.
"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 Montalvo said.
Each pair of twins shared a placenta, the hospital said.
Identical twins result when a fertilized egg splits into two embryos. Twins occur in about 2% of all pregnancies, according to the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Of those, 30% are identical twins.
The odds of having two sets of twins at once is about 1 in 70 million, Dr. Alan Penzias, associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School, told ABC News. Attempts by CNN to reach Penzias on Tuesday were not immediately successful.
The boys were all born at 31 weeks' gestation, so they face some health risks, as their immune systems aren't fully developed, said Krista Cato, a nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit of Children's National Medical Center in Washington.
Manuel Montalvo said he and his wife were trying to have "one little brother or sister" for their 2-year-old son, Memphis.
"We didn't expect it," Tressa Montalvo said. "We were trying for just one and we were blessed with four. ... We planned the pregnancy -- I guess we just succeeded a little too much."
Still, the Montalvos say, they are planning on trying again. "We want a girl," Manuel Montalvo said.
Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Click on the region names in the map below to see news from that region.
RIGHT NOW: Top Stories
Phoenix Officer Daryl Raetz was killed in a hit-and-run while wrapping up a DUI stop last weekend.
We talked with a dietician, a doctor and a health food restaurant manager, and they all had different ideas on hot diets trending this year.
Marches and rallies against seed giant Monsanto were held across the U.S. and in dozens of other countries Saturday.
Rosy Spraker was only a half-mile from the finish line of her seventh Boston Marathon when the bombs went off. She received her medal later in the mail at her Lorton, Va., home. But she couldn't bring herself to wear it until Saturday, when she and thousands of other athletes joined victims of the blast to run and walk the last mile of the race.
PHOTOS: People dressed in costumes to reflect their favorite characters and superheros have taken over downtown Phoenix for 2013 Comicon. Flip through the pictures to see some of the best costumes.
They say you should never make a big decision when you're emotional. But what if there's barely a moment to think and a life-or-death choice looming?