Akron couple who shares leap day birthdays, anniversary welcome 'leapling' baby girl

Billy and Tiffany Turner were both born on leap days in the 1980s.

The Akron couple got married on leap day in 2016.

Their son was born in a leap year – 2020 – but missed leap day by a few weeks.

And they had their daughter Thursday, which was leap day.

Mya Marie was born at 6:36 p.m., much to the delight of her leap day-loving parents.

“It’s the best birthday present – ever,” Billy Turner said, after the couple welcomed their daughter at Summa Akron City Hospital.

“It just kind of worked out,” said Tiffany Turner, whose due date was Friday but who was induced early because of hypertension. “It’s just like – funny.”

Maureen Nagg, a spokesperson for the hospital, said Summa has had leap day babies before but never one with so many unique ties to the milestone that happens every four years. Nagg said the nurses assisting the Turners were nearly as excited as the couple.

Mya was among 14 babies born on leap day at the hospital, with each of them receiving a beanie with a frog on it.

The nearby Cleveland Clinic Akron General welcomed seven babies on Thursday, with each of them getting a special leap day onesie made by an employee.

Kate Schoonover, a former labor and delivery nurse who is now a nurse recruiter, tried to find leap day onesies to buy, but came up short. So, she designed and made them herself.

“I wanted to do something memorable,” said Schoonover, who plans to save the design and update it for the next leap year in 2028.

What is leap day and how many ‘leaplings’ are there?

Leap day helps align our calendar with the solar calendar and account for how the Earth takes slightly more than 365 days to orbit the sun.

About 5 million people worldwide were born on leap day, according to the Associated Press.

That’s roughly 0.06% of the world’s population of 8 billion people.

Those born on leap day are called “leaplings” or “leap day babies.”

Feb. 29 is the rarest birthday, and the odds of being born on that date are 1 in 1,461.

How did 2 leap day babies end up together?

Billy and Tiffany, who were introduced by friends, didn’t realize they shared a birthday when they first started dating in 2005.

Billy left his wallet at Tiffany’s place, and she took a peek at his license to see when he was born.

She remembers thinking, “This does not say Feb. 29.”

He was born on Feb. 29, 1984, four years before her birthdate of Feb. 29, 1988.

“It seemed like we had a whole lot of things in common,” she said.

Neither of them has ever known anyone else who was born on a leap day.

Leap day weddings: Anniversaries won't disappear from calendar for Akron's leap day newlyweds

In early 2016, the couple was planning to get married and decided to tie the knot on leap day.

“It’s a special day for both of us,” Billy said.

In non-leap years, Billy and Tiffany celebrate their birthdays and anniversary on either Feb. 28 or March 1.

How did they manage to have a leap day baby?

The couple started trying to have a baby in 2016, which was a leap year.

Tiffany, though, had a miscarriage with their first pregnancy.

Four years later, she got pregnant again and was due in a leap year.

“When we found out we were expecting, we were counting the months and said, ‘Is this going to happen?’” Billy recalled. “Unfortunately, it didn’t happen on leap day.”

Their son David was born on March 25, 2020, nearly a month after leap day.

With Tiffany’s latest pregnancy, the couple tried to schedule her to be induced on leap day, but the hospital had no openings until March 6.

Tiffany, though, went for a check-up Wednesday, and her doctor said she needed to be admitted to the hospital because of high blood pressure. Doctors decided Tiffany’s labor should be induced, starting this process about 6 p.m. Wednesday.

That still didn’t guarantee that Mya would be born on leap day, with a six-hour time gap.

Mya, though, appeared to understand the importance of not arriving too early and waited until the next evening to make her appearance.

“It just happened that way,” Billy said, chuckling. “The odds are astronomical.”

Mya, who weighed 10.1 pounds and was 53 centimeters long, had fluid in her lungs when she was born and was put into the neonatal intensive care unit. By Friday morning, she was taken off a breathing machine. The couple has been able to hold her.

Could the Turner family have another leap day miracle?

Billy, 40, and Tiffany, 36, aren’t sure if they want to have more children, but if they do, they may consider trying for another leap-day milestone.

As it stands now, the couple plans to reach out to Ripley’s Believe it or Not! to see if their quadruple-leap-day phenomenon rates as a “fun fact” mention.

Tiffany also wonders if Mya might be able to carry on the family tradition and give her a leap day grandbaby someday.

“It’s one of those things – maybe the legacy lives on,” she said.

Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com, 330-996-3705 and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj. 

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron couple leaping with joy after baby's birth on special day