Babies leap into Leap Year birthdays

Ben and Lindsey Ereditario were expecting their first child to arrive on Sunday, but little Louis waited until Thursday to make his appearance at Independence Health System Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg.

He’s among several newborns in the region who joined the ranks of Leap Year babies that day. There are an estimated 360,000 Leaplings in the United States, according to the Social Security Administration.

There are about 5 million people out of the global population of about 8 billion who were born on Feb. 29, according to The Associated Press.

Lindsey began the second stage of her labor at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Greensburg hospital, finally delivering the Jeannette couple’s son at 3:15 a.m. Thursday.

Lindsey said Thursday afternoon that she and Louis both were doing well in the hospital. While noting that the timing of the birth was random, she said having her baby on a Leap Day is “kind of cool. I like it.

“It’s one of those weird things that happens.”

“When they come, they come,” Ben said of delivery dates. But, with his son’s Leap Day arrival, he said, “It’s pretty exciting.”

Louis has made his presence known in the family. “He’s smiling a lot, but when he cries, he’s pretty loud,” said Ben.

The couple said they plan to celebrate Louis’s birthday on March 1 during non-Leap years, since their birthdays are in March. Ben was born on a Good Friday, and Lindsey’s birthday falls on Easter this year.

Lindsey said they won’t miss the opportunity to tease their son on non-Leap years, “when we mess with him and say, ‘It’s not your birthday.’ ”

“We’ll really have a blowout for his fourth birthday,” Ben said.

Alaya Brooklyn Harper was expected to make her entry into the world on St. Patrick’s Day, which would have given her an extra reason to celebrate that festive day.

Instead, her mother, Mya Harper, 23, said she began having back-to-back contractions in the middle of the night, so she and her husband, Logan Harper, 25, made their way from their home in Penn Hills to UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood.

Mya said she was in the hospital for only about 20 minutes before a healthy Alaya was born at 6:05 a.m., weighing in at 7 pounds, 1 ounce and stretching out all of 19 inches. Mya said she anticipates going home on Friday, where newborn Alaya will join her older sister, Hayzel Harper, who is 2½ years old.

As for when they will celebrate Alaya’s first birthday, Mya said they will opt for Feb. 28 on the three years between leap years. So, she will not get to celebrate her birthday on her actual date, until Feb. 29, 2028.

At Allegheny Health Network’s Wexford Hospital in Pine, new parents Ashley and Sean Winser of Beaver welcomed a healthy baby girl at 8:48 a.m. Thursday. The leapling weighed in at 8 pounds 1 ounce and slightly longer than 21 inches.

The parents had yet to name their new daughter as of late Thursday afternoon, said Nikki Buccina, an AHN spokeswoman. She was one of AHN’s first babies born this Leap Year, Buccina added.

Three additional Leap Year babies arrived Thursday at the Greensburg hospital.

Sarah Humbert and her fiancé Dillon Snyder-Zoldosh of Derry Borough selected Feb. 29 for her C-section delivery as a way of further celebrating the number 29.

Sarah’s first son, Ivan, was born April 29, and Dillon’s birthday is May 29. Sarah’s mother, Lisa, was born July 21, 1969 — the day of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The couple’s new son, Isaac, weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces. The parents say they’ll celebrate his birthday Feb. 28 in non-Leap Years so it remains in February.

When Kelsey and Tyler Greathouse of Lemont Furnace, Fayette County, realized their firstborn would be a Leapling, they did some research for guidance on marking their son’s future birthdays. Because he was born before noon, they plan to celebrate on Feb. 28.

For Bobbi Herrera and Adam Pastorek of Richland, Cambria Country, the due date for their fourth child was March 1; in a non-Leap Year, Juni Marie would have arrived right on schedule.

Since her older brother, Jameson, turned 2 on Feb. 28, she’ll continue to celebrate her arrival with a March party so both children have their own special day.