Leap day: Meet the 'leaplings' born in Northern Ireland on 29 February

Louise with her son Smith who was born weighing 8lb 10oz

As the candles stack up, one birthday every four years may sound appealing.

For the 'leapling' babies born at maternity wards across Northern Ireland earlier this week, their 29 February leap year birth date is extra special.

Among them is baby Smith, who was born in the Royal Belfast Maternity Hospital at 22:20 GMT on Thursday, weighing 8lb 10oz, to Louise and Colin Taylor.

"I just thought, 'Gosh, he won't have his first birthday until he's four'," Louise, 41, told BBC News NI.

Smith decided to come two weeks early - just as Louise was at the hospital filling in forms for a planned C-section.

"I mentioned that I thought I was having Braxton Hicks contractions," Louise, from Ballynahinch, County Down, said.

"They put the monitor on me and said, 'No, that's early labour'."

She said the thought of Smith only having a birthday on his actual birth date every four years was "really strange - but as long as he's safe, I'm delighted".

Bringing 'some good'

While Louise had a "great" pregnancy, it was "filled with worry" after her twin girls were stillborn in July 2022.

She and her husband Colin, 46, were part of filming for Channel 4's Belfast Midwives programme at the time and decided to "continue with filming to tell the girls' story".

The couple hope it brought "some good" to "others going through something similar".

"Smith looks like the girls, which is lovely," Louise added.

"It's like seeing them in him."

Louise and her husband Colin with baby Smith

Louise said she doesn't know yet whether the family will celebrate Smith's birthday on 28 February or 1 March on non-leap years but it will probably be whichever date is closer to the weekend "so they can have a party".

They plan to have a big party every four years, she added.

'What do you do?'

Martina Leonard's daughter Amelia Rose was born in Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry, County Down, at 13:51 on Thursday, weighing 7lb 8oz.

On the ward, the midwives were "all so excited" about a leap day baby, Martina said.

Her due date was 26 February but Martina, 33, was induced on 29 February.

"Every day was getting closer to the 29th. We were thinking, 'Oh God, what date do you celebrate, what do you do?'

"My family are saying she's a special baby for a special day."

'Common ground'

Another Daisy Hill leap day baby was Céadan, who was born at 04:33 GMT, weighing 7lb 10oz.

His mother, Anita Wray, from Armagh, was induced on 27 February and labour lasted "longer than expected".

Céadan Wray was born at Daisy Hill Hospital

With a due date of 26 February, Anita, 28, said she and her husband Dermot, 30, thought there was a chance Céadan could arrive on the leap day.

"When I found out the due date, I thought, 'What do we do? I hope he's not born then but then I thought, 'Actually it's so unique'.

"I know nobody else who is born on the 29th - no friends or family."

Two other mothers in the delivery ward with Anita also had their babies on the leap day and she said it was "lovely to spend it all together and have that common ground".

'The rarest birthday'

Baby Milo was born in the Royal Belfast Maternity Hospital at 11:11 GMT, weighing 5lbs 14oz.

Milo is doing "great", his mum Rebecca Donaghy said, adding that "he's pretty special".

"It's cool that he has the rarest birthday."

Baby Milo with his dad David

Milo's due date was 4 April but Rebecca, 28, was brought in early to have a C-section as she needs to get her thyroid removed.

When she found out the date of the C-section, she said she was in shock that Milo would come so early but "you handle it as well as you can", and initially she hadn't realised what 29 February meant.

"Then we were all thinking about how it would be a leap day," she said.

Rebecca, who is originally from Cookstown but lives in Belfast, also has six-year-old son, whose birthday is in November. Her eight-year-old daughter was born in a leap year, but on 16 February.

She says they will probably celebrate Milo's birthday on 28 February "to keep it all in February" and then "go mad every four years" with a big celebration.