A Toronto woman born on a leap day beat all odds and gave birth to her own leap year baby. Amanda Abbott and her partner Vishnu Singh welcomed their first child, Pavan, on Monday, February 29.
The odds of having a leap year baby, also known as a leapling, are one in 1,461, making Pavan’s birth pretty remarkable. But what’s more outstanding is that the odds of having both a mother and baby born on a leap day are one in 2.1 million, according to U of T statistics professor Jeffrey Rosenthal.
The Toronto Star reports that Abbott and Singh’s baby boy arrived two weeks after his due date, making his February 29 birth a huge surprise. “When we got to the 27th, we made little jokes like ‘keep your legs crossed,’” the new dad explained.
After the couple announced their son’s arrival on Facebook, friends and family joked that they should take Pavan’s birth as a sign and buy a lottery ticket.
Unfortunately, the odds of winning the biggest Lotto 6/49 prize are even greater than having both a mom and baby born on a leap day. But despite the chances being just one in 13,983,816, the couple is still hopeful. “Fingers crossed,” Singh joked. “Babies are expensive.”
This isn’t the first time a mom born on a leap day has given birth to a leapling. Mom Lorina Justus, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, gave birth to her son David on her birthday on February 29, 1972, just 12 days before his actual due date.
On Monday, Justus celebrated her 68th birthday and David celebrated his 44th, although in leap years, they are just 17 and 11 years old, respectively.
“It's the craziest coincidence, it really is,” the mom told People about her son’s birth. “It's funny and fun and strange and rare, but I love sharing a leap day birthday with David.”
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