Leap Day baby born in suburban Chicago shares birthday with another family member
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Leapers -- leaplets -- leapians.
Whatever you call them, Leap Day babies have one of the rarest birthdays.
At an area hospital, one family where the lucky birthday bridges generations.
"As it got closer and closer, we kind of realized oh, it's definitely gonna be past midnight."
Arriving after midnight, at 12:40 a.m. on Leap Day, baby Molly Grace Dobin, coming in at seven pounds six-and-a-half ounces and 19 inches long, got a leap frog hat to cap off the achievement.
Now the youngest of three siblings, her mom Carly originally laughed at the thought of a Leap Day birthday and didn't bet on it.
Instead, a new big brother, three-year-old Ryan, correctly guessed this special day.
"We did at home on the calendar what each of us thought the birthday was going to be and Ryan our youngest boy picked today as his day," said mom Carly Dobin.
"And high stakes. We had an ice cream cone from McDonald's as our prize. So looks like he is a winner," said dad Matt Dobin.
Worldwide there are less than five million people with February 29 as a birthday. So even with these new additions that is still less than .1% of the global population.
But this isn't so rare for Carly's family. Her grandfather, Martin Kinney, was also a Leap Day baby.
"He would be thrilled. He would be thrilled. I could feel him smiling down on us today," said Molly Dobin's grandmother Kathy O'Connor.
This would have been his 96th birthday, or 24th Leap Day birthday before he passed last year. He'd noted that his own birth in 1928 got a front-page mention in his local newspaper.
The Dobins said like Molly's great grandfather, they'll usually mark her birthday on the 28th, with some ideas on how to celebrate.
"Dairy Queen," said sister Emma Dobin with a smile.
