Barrett, Michael. (2016, March 1). Babies were born by 'leaps'
and bounds Monday, The Gaston Gazette, retrieved from www.gastongazette.com.
Seth and Jeana Heavner's second child was scheduled to be born Feb. 27.
Fate, they suspected, would leap the the delivery a couple of days higher
in the calendar.
"We really didn't want it to happen," Jeana Heavner said
of giving birth to a leap year baby on Monday, Feb. 29. "We just
had a feeling the whole time he would wait and come then."
Griffin William Heavner arrived at CaroMont Regional Medical Center at
4:20 p.m. He was one of six babies born that day, which is fairly typical
for this time of year at the Gastonia hospital, said spokeswoman Dallas Butler.
A Feb. 29 leap day is added to solar calendars every four years to realign
it with Earth's position in the solar system. A complete revolution
around the sun takes six hours longer than 365 days, and the adjustment
compensates for the lag.
The Heavners say they didn't have a good reason for wanting to avoid
a leap year birth. But their other son, 5-year-old Miles, immediately
thought it would be "cooler" when the possibility and ramifications
were explained to him.
"He definitely wanted (Griffin) to come that day," said Jeana
Heavner. "He's got it all figured out."
Leap year babies sometimes run into trouble with their birthday being officially
recognized, due to computer databases not having an entry for "Feb.
29." Stories abound of people seeing difficulty when they go to vote
or buy alcohol for the first time upon turning 18 or 21. And until recently,
Facebook didn't even have a way of wishing Happy Birthday to leap
year babies the way they do others.
"We really haven't considered any of that yet," said Jeana Heavner.
They expect they'll celebrate Griffin's birthday on Feb. 28, rather
than March 1. Miles already has dibs.
"That way, they'll have different birth months," she said.
Every four years is cause for greater celebration among many leap year
babies, when they get to revel in the return of their legitimate birthday.
Jeana Heavner said they'll likely follow that formula.
And they've already come to think of the newborn son as being more
distinctive.
"He’s happy and he’s healthy and his birthday is what
it is," she said. "He’ll have something special and unique
about him."
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