Pittsburgh hospitals welcome babies born on Leap Day
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Some babies born in Pittsburgh on Thursday will have a very memorable birthday.
At UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, Logan and Mya Harper welcomed Alaya Brooklyn Harper at 6:05 a.m. on Feb. 29, 2024. UPMC said Alaya's due date was actually St. Patrick's Day, and while she decided to come a little early, she still managed to pick a pretty cool day.
At Allegheny Health Network's Wexford Hospital, new parents Ashley and Sean Winser welcomed their baby girl at 8:48 a.m. She came in at 8 pounds and 1 ounce and just a little over 21 inches long, the health system said. She was one of AHN's first babies of this leap year.
Independence Health System Westmoreland Hospital also welcomed a handful of babies who won't celebrate their "first" birthdays until 2028.
Allegheny Health Network says the chances of being born on Feb. 29 are 1 in 1,461. Roughly 360,000 people across the country share this birthday, compared to about 1.6 million who are born on March 1.
A handful of other Pittsbughers are also celebrating their birthdays today. Ethel Bonder from Lower Burrell is turning 92, though she's celebrating her birthday for only the 23rd time. Jim Newcomb is celebrating his sweet 16, and his great-niece shares his birthday too.
According to NASA, we have leap years because while the world follows a 365-day calendar, it actually takes Earth a little more than a year to orbit the sun, so leap years make up for the difference.
