NJ mother, child, both born on leap day

Published 11:42 am Wednesday, February 29, 2012

SADDLE RIVER, N.J. — A New Jersey mother born on Feb. 29 beat 2 million-to-1 odds when she had her daughter — who was also born on leap day.

Michelle Birnbaum of Saddle River tells The New York Post that she’ll use the occasion to teach her 4-year-old daughter Rose about science and the earth’s cycles around the sun.

Birnbaum turns 32 Wednesday, but will celebrate for only the eighth time on the actual date. It comes once every four years as the result of a system intended to keep the seasons, years, months and days in working order.

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Birnbaum went into labor on Feb. 28, 2008, but Rose was born the following day.

She tells the newspaper she’s delighted to have a “built in party partner.”