California Triplets Born on Dad's Birthday Nearly Break Record

Marco Bernal got the birthday gift of a lifetime when his wife Nyla Craft delivered three healthy baby boys on August 18.

The California couple welcomed mixed triplets—Elio, Elias, and Enzo—all conceived naturally and born full-term with no complications at Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center. Two of the brothers are identical, while the third is fraternal, making them a rare set.

The three boys tipped the scales at a combined 19.3 pounds. That's just short of the Guinness World Record for heaviest living triplets at birth, which stands at 22 pounds, 12.6 ounces from a set born in Colorado in 2003.

"When I heard the first baby come out, I cried," Craft told CBS News as Bernal cradled two babies in his arms. "Then the second one, then the third one, and I heard them all crying at once. I was like, 'Oh thank God, they are good.'"

More than a dozen doctors and nurses from multiple specialties worked together to safely deliver the triplets. The hospital called their combined weight "a remarkably healthy start for triplets."

Mixed triplets form when a mother releases three eggs at ovulation and all three get fertilized, or when a fertilized egg splits. Either way, it's a rare occurrence that made this delivery extra special for the medical team.

Sunny's Take

The triplets join two older siblings at home, bringing the family's total to five children under age 5. Dr. Rohit Passi, the hospital's chief of neonatology, visited the family at their Southern California home after the delivery.

"This is the best part, just seeing them out and sitting with the family," Passi said. "This is the reason we do what we do."

For Bernal, sharing a birthday with his three youngest sons means every celebration moving forward will be three times as sweet.