Area hospitals busy with Leap Day babies
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Some local families have no excuse for not remembering their kids' birthdays.
Their new bundles of joy arrived on Leap Day 2016.
Stephanie and Keith Keller of Glenside, Pennsylvania had one of the area's first Leap Day babies.
Luke Keller arrived at 12:11 a.m. Monday at Abington Jefferson Hospital, weighing in at more than 8 pounds.
Luke was actually due Saturday, but when Stephanie went in to labor a day late, Keith started rooting for a February 29th birth.
"He wanted it, he really wanted it," says new mom, Stephanie Keller.
Dad Keith chimed in, "I wanted it to be leap year. I think it's interesting, and different. And we can have a big party every four years."
Keith Keller says as midnight Sunday closed in, and Stephanie hadn't yet delivered, he had a host of texts from friends and family also hoping for a Leap Day arrival.
Stephanie, a teacher, says she's still working out how to explain it all to Luke.
Luke's new grandmothers were a little less enthusiastic about the Leap Day birthday, saying he might not appreciate feeling 'different.'
Action News found another lucky family in Chester County at Paoli Hospital.
Bernadette D'Emilio gave birth to a Leap Day baby girl.
She and husband Michael have three other children who will help choose the name of their baby sister.
The D'Emilio's say the baby was due to arrive on Leap Day but, they didn't think it was going to actually happen.
"We definitely talked about the fact that we'll celebrate it in February, we won't do it in March," said Bernadette. "We'll celebrate her birthday every year, but we'll have big parties every four years."
Paoli Hospital is helped the families mark the Leap Day celebration with cupcakes and a copy of the day's newspaper.
Meanwhile, Einstein Health tweeted 6abc a photo of one of their Leap Day babies - Welcome to the world Haliyah Johson!
