CALGARY – It was something they had joked about, but when little Addison Palbom chose to come into the world early Monday morning, her parents were a little bit surprised. Born at 5:53 a.m. on Feb. 29, “Addie” is a leap baby. Technically, she won’t have another birthday for four years.
“No birthdays until then!” Palbom’s mother, Jill Vanengen, said with a laugh. “We’re on a budget.”
“Her first due date was Feb. 27,” father Rob Palbom said. “So we joked around about her being a leap year baby, but the chances of that happening is so slim.”
After their first ultrasound, the baby girl’s due date was adjusted to Feb. 22, but as luck would have it, labour began a week later.
“It was a really short labour, an hour and 20 minutes,” Vanengen said.
READ MORE: The hassles of being a leap year baby
According to the Honor Society of Leap Year Babies, “leapers” face some challenges related to their unique birthday, from banking difficulties to some organizations not recognizing the day exists. For now though, Vanengen is just celebrating the rare day.
“It was honestly the best day of our lives… it just happened so fast. She’s just our special little lady coming today.”
Leap Days occur because the Earth actually rotates around the sun once in 365.2421 years, so every four years Feb. 29 will be on the calendar.
The chances of being born on a Leap Day is about one in 1,461.
READ MORE: Five facts about leap year
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