Baby Eden arrived in the world on Jan. 4 at HCA Florida Northwest Hospital in Margate, just in time to share a birthday with both his mother and older sister.
Pompano Beach mom Marianna De La Cruz said Eden had been due on Jan. 16, but then she stopped feeling him moving on Jan. 3, so her doctor induced her. The baby arrived the next day, just as his mother turned 33.
“The probability of having the same birthday for them is extremely small,” said Hongwei Long, a professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Florida Atlantic University. Indeed, the odds that three family members would share a birthday are 1 in 133,225, or 0.00000750609, he said.
De La Cruz said the pregnancy had been going well until Jan. 3, when she decided to leave her job as a bookkeeper to get checked at her doctor’s office. The doctor sent her to the hospital for evaluation.
“When a patient is full term and they have decreased movement, we order an ultrasound,” said her obstetrician, Dr. Mitchell Feldman. “Marianna’s ultrasound was good, but she still wasn’t feeling movement. Since the baby was full term, we decided to induce.”
Eden arrived the next morning at 10:39 a.m. weighing 6 pounds, 15 ounces. Afterward, a nurse brought mom a birthday cupcake, but De La Cruz said Eden was her best gift.
“Everything happened so fast. I was not able to get my thoughts together,” she said. “The baby was coming and I realized I was not going to have my birthday to myself.”
Of course, this isn’t new for her. De La Cruz already had been celebrating birthdays with her daughter, Jailyn. Eight years earlier, Jailyn had also been due on Jan. 12, but she arrived eight days early, on Jan. 4, at the same hospital as her new brother.
Upon learning her new brother’s birth date, De La Cruz said Jailyn “stood there in shock, but then she said, ‘Mom I’m so excited.’ ”
Big sister already is pitching in to help with Eden, who is doing well and is “a good baby,” De La Cruz said.
Eden also has a big brother, Crystian, whose birthday is in February. He just turned 12. Crystian also was born at HCA Florida Northwest Hospital, just like his two siblings. “What can I say? I love winter babies,” De La Cruz said.
Sun Sentinel reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com or at 954-304-5908.