This website is best viewed in a browser that supports web standards.

Skip to content or, if you would rather, Skip to navigation.

Listen Live
Donate
MARYVILLE

KXCV-KRNW


News Brief

June 28, 2023Des Moines, Iowa |  By: Jeremy Werner

Twins born at 22 weeks ready to go home

hospital room

DES MOINES, Iowa - A miraculous journey comes to a heartwarming end as a southwest Iowa couple celebrates taking their premature son home from a Des Moines hospital after five and a half months.

Cristal Alvarez and Junior Mendez, of Lenox, became emotional as they shared their experience of their twins' early birth at just 22 weeks this past January.

Jacob, weighing one pound, six ounces, was discharged, while his sister Luna, still in stable condition, remains in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Jacob and Luna have been in the hospital for 166 days.

The twins' survival is a significant milestone, as they are the first babies born at 22 weeks at the hospital to overcome such odds. The family looks forward to finally being together under one roof.