These sisters both gave birth to Leap Day babies: ‘I think they’re going to be close’

The odds of giving birth on Leap Day are exceptionally rare, but one pair of sisters managed to defy the odds this year. Siblings Marissa Quinones and Makiya Anthony of Dunkirk, New York both welcomed their little ones on Feb. 29, with the new cousins becoming Leap Day birthday twins too.

Quinones told local media outlet WKBW that she’d been scheduled to deliver on Feb. 29, and she was excited to give her daughter such a special birthday. “My boyfriend at first told me to switch the day and I told him ‘no’ … I think it’s unique,” she said.

Anthony, who was due a week later, thought she was going for a routine doctor visit that day. “It was just supposed to be a regular OB appointment, just my checkup,” she said. “Then they told me I was going to have my baby.”

The sisters delivered in separate hospitals, and their mom, Cherie Coy, had one word for it all: “panic.” She told the outlet. “I try to be there for all of them. Instantly I knew what the weekend had in store for me.”

It seems Quinones’ grandma had a feeling the duo would give birth on the same day, but the odds of delivering on Leap Day are highly unlikely, with an average of 1 in 1,461 babies born that day. Still, they’re both excited for their babies to share such a special bond, with Anthony telling the outlet: “Me and my cousins, we’re super closer in age, and that made us closer. So I think they’re [the babies are] going to be super close too.”

Of course, their grandma already has big plans to celebrate. “As the kids get older, they’re not going to like [that] they have to wait an extra day for their birthday,” Coy said. “So I think the 28th is the day.”

“Every four years, there’s going to be a crazy party in Dunkirk for a bunch of children,” she continued. “Everybody knows our whole family is just kids, kids, kids. Bring your kids.”

Congrats to the family on their two new additions! We know those birthday parties are going to be a blast.