Carson City welcomes Leap Day babies

As if having a baby on Leap Day isn’t rare enough, two friends got to share the same experience.

Mallory Chavez and Teslah Callahan both gave birth to baby girls on Monday, Feb. 29, at Carson-Tahoe Regional Medical Center, just down the hall from one another. The two friends had only known each other for a few months, but they weren’t supposed to have their daughters at the same time, let alone on the Leap Day. Khloe Mae, Callahan’s daughter, was supposed to be born the week before and Piper, Chavez’s daughter wasn’t due until March 4.

“They were actually supposed to try and induce me Tuesday night (since she wasn’t coming),” Callahan said.

Callahan was in labor for 14 hours on Monday, while Chavez had to go into surgery to have a C-section because the baby was breached.

“Nothing went wrong but I psyched myself out because it was my first kid, first pregnancy and with a C-section so it was pretty scary,” Chavez said. “But it feels amazing (to have Piper).”

Both families agreed they would celebrate the child’s birthday either on Feb. 28 or March 1 on the off years, then have a big celebration every four years on Feb. 29. On the off years, Callahan may even get to share her March 1 birthday with her daughter.

“We should just celebrate once every four years and make it a big one, so all the people she met in the past four years are invited to the birthday party,” joked Piper’s father Kevin D’Alessandro.