Greenwich Hospital Welcomes Nine Leap Year Babies

When you give birth, people typically want to know if it’s a boy or a girl. But when you give birth on Feb. 29 during a leap year, people have a very different question: “When are you going to celebrate the baby’s birthday?”

That’s the question being posed to eight families at Greenwich Hospital, who greeted nine newborns on Monday, Feb. 29, including a set of twins.

Lizzi Shtelmakher of Yonkers, NY, started things rolling when she gave birth to a boy, Mark, at 10:55 am. It’s the first child for Lizzi and her husband, Allen. She and her brother joked about giving birth on Feb. 29, but never imagined it would actually happen. As for celebrating Mark’s birthday in the future: “We’ll probably celebrate on Feb. 28 and March 1,” she said. “He can have two birthdays every year.”

Auria Jorge of the Bronx, NY, wasn’t expecting to give birth until March 10. But during a check-up on the morning of Feb. 29, her doctor told to head to Greenwich Hospital because it was time to deliver. Enrique Antonio Jorge arrived in the afternoon. As his aunt put it, the newborn will be “forever young.”

Lucia Palmieri-Zager of Westport, Conn., was thrilled to give birth to twins – Daisy Lyn and Joseph David – on Feb. 29. Lucia has many twins in her family and most of them, she said, don’t like sharing a birthday. Lucia’s children won’t have to share – one can celebrate on Feb. 28 and the other can celebrate on March 1. “And when they turn 40, they can get a 10 year birthday card!” 

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