Posted: 3/3/04
By Barbara Brown
An exciting thing happened Sunday at the Fairview Lakes Regional Medical Center ñ three baby girls were born.
These are not ordinary baby girls. These girls will grown up forever young.
They will celebrate an official birthday only every four years. When they turn 16, they actually will be 64 years old; realizing every womanís dream to never age.
Technically, Leap Day babies get their driverís licenses at age 4. They can drink alcohol at 5 and can retire before they turn 17.
Actually, according to the Minnesota Department of Vehicle Services, the ages of Leap Day borns is determined solely by the year the person was born; the day is not really taken into consideration.
Every four years, an extra day is thrown in at the end of February. Although some of us may think it was invented just to throw off every check-writer in the world, Leap Year Day actually has some logic and mathematical reasoning behind it.
According to the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies the chances of being born on Leap Year Day ñ leapers as they have been called ñ is about one in 1,461.
There are about 200,000 leapers in the United States and about four million in the world.
The Web site listed the No. 1 question to leapers: ìWhen do you celebrate your birthday.î
The society believes most leapers fall into one of two categories: strict Februarians and those who are a little more lax.
Strict Februarians, a term invented by an Honor Society member born in 1956, celebrate on the last day of February because thatís when they were born. The society said it has found that most leapers celebrate their birthdays that way.
Jodi Phillips of Wyoming, said she and her husband Ron do not plan to throw parties for daughter Anna on Feb. 28.
ìTechnically she wasnít here on February 28, so it almost has to be celebrated on March 1,î Phillips said.
Phillips said she was not upset when her labor pains kicked in on Sunday. She was actually pretty excited.
ìI said all along that I wanted a leap year baby,î said Phillips, whose sister is a leap year baby also.
The 7 pound, 15 ounce Anna was welcomed home by older sister Sydney, 5, and brother Alex, 3.
Jenny Stransky and Elby Atkins of Hinckley said they were not expecting to see their daughter Eunice Rose for another two months.
The baby was due on April 1 but came early.
The 5 pound, 5 ounce baby was 19 inches long and healthy when she was born.
The family ìreally havenít given much thoughtî to the impact of having a Leap Day baby.
Madison Waldron joined the ranks in her family as having a special birthday.
The baby, born two weeks early to Kari Baldwin and Shannon Waldron of Braham, joined her familyís Christmas, fourth of July and Easter-time birthdays.
Madisonís birthday also falls between her grandmotherís and great auntís birthdays ñ Feb. 28 and March 1.
ìI really didnít want her to be a Leap Day baby,î Baldwin said. ìNow Iím pretty happy about it.î
ìSheís here and weíre just happy about that,î Waldron said.
Leap Dayís origin
According to scientists, an earth year actually is 365.24219 days long. Calendars apparently ran amok until 45 BC when Emperor Julius Caesar proclaimed the last day of February ñ formerly Feb. 30 and the end of the full year ñ leap day and nixed it from the calendar except for every fourth year.
In 4 AD, Emperor Caesar Augustus corrected a counting error in Leap Years.The month of August was named for him and Augustus stole the last day of February so that August could have 31 days, just like July, Julius Caesarís month.
Therefore, February was left with 29 days in leap years.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII, moved the end of the year to December 31, making century years leap years if they were divisible by 400.
Pope Gregory also moved the end of the year back two months so that Easter would occur in the spring.
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