‘Leap day doctor’ celebrates his 13th birthday with his hospital’s new arrivals

When your birthday only comes around once every four years, you might decide to take the day off. Instead, Dr. Eric Grossman, an OB/GYN at Virtua Voorhees Hospital in New Jersey, prefers to work so that he can be an "ambassador" to babies who share the same unique birthday.

"Today I am 13," said Grossman at a small press conference at the hospital. (Technically, he's 52, but his leap year age is 13.) "My youngest of four kids is 13 years old, so I get to be the same age as my youngest kid. And that's the last time — after this, all my kids will be older than me."

Grossman reflected on previous birthday celebrations, noting that some just have a little more sparkle than others.

"For my '10th' birthday, when all my friends were 40, my wife rented one of those gyms that you do for little kids, and it was all the little kid stuff that you do ... but with adult beverages late at night," said Grossman. "You can do those things when you're a leap year baby."

But having a leap day birthday isn't all fun and games.

When he was younger, Grossman said that "sometimes the 29th just wouldn't show up" in computer systems. "I remember I had to go and get a card from the post office for the selective service registration because I don't think the government had the 29th on when I turned 18," but he said that technology has now caught up.

The newly born babies will also have some changes ahead of them. "When these kids that are born today turn 76, there's not going to be a leap day, and so they're going to have to wait eight years because of the way the earth and the sun align with each other," he said.

Let's meet three of the newest leap day babies Grossman's hospital helped shepherd into the world.

Russell Robert Bryan

At 3:50 a.m., Andrea and Michael Bryan welcomed their third baby, Russell, to the world. Their original due date was March 6.

"I don't think we realized it was even a leap year until yesterday. It didn't really dawn on us until we were in the middle of the labor process," said Michael.

When Russell goes home, he will join his 4-year-old brother, Campbell, and his 2-year-old sister, Frankie. Both of his siblings happen to have holiday-adjacent birthdays. "Our son is the day after Christmas, and then our daughter is Memorial Day weekend," said Andrea. "Weird coincidence, I guess. None of that was planned."

"We certainly have our hands very full," Michael joked.

The couple honored Michael's late grandfather by using his name — Robert — as Russell's middle name. Curiously enough, Robert had "a love of frogs," said Michael as hospital representatives handed the couple frog-themed gifts for the baby to symbolize the "leap" day. Michael continued, "His house was full of frogs. He collected a lot of frogs. Ironic."

Amias and Eiress Parker

With five children at home, Monesia and Anthony Parker are pros at labor and delivery. But leap day twins Amias, a boy, and Eiress, a girl, added some new twists to the familiar routine.

Monesia said they suspected the babies could be born on Feb. 29, "but I was hoping it didn't happen because [it's only] every four years, and we're going to have to celebrate on March 1. But it happened this way, so ... we're happy that they're here. That's the most important part." The babies were born at 4:15 a.m. and 4:25 a.m.

Twins run in the family. Anthony is a fraternal twin, his mother is an identical twin and his aunt had four sets of twins. You read that right — four. "Twins on my side of the family runs heavy, and I have an aunt that it's her birthday today," added Anthony. They usually celebrate her birthday on March 1 on non-leap years.

How will the babies' five siblings react to seeing their newest family members in the news?

"They're going to be excited. I can already see them jumping around," said Anthony. "I think they're going to be very, very, very, very, very happy."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com