Leap day baby Lissette creates IVF trio for Hamilton family
Lissette was due to be born on March 14, but leapt in early on a special day.
She’s one of 11 babies born in Waikato Hospital on February 29, a birthday that’ll roll around just once every four years.
Her arrival is particularly special to parents Rowan and Rita Thorpe as she creates an IVF trio with siblings Lachlan, 5, and Cadence, 3.
Though they were born at different times they’re technically triplets, says dad Rowan, because all three eggs were fertilised in a lab at the same time.
After an induction, it took Lissette a comparatively quick three hours to arrive and take her first breath of Hamilton air at 6.30pm on Wednesday, but it wasn’t straightforward.
Rowan said Lissette came out “with a cord around her neck twice pretty tightly, and also her hand up by her face”.
“Usually you just get the hands after the shoulders, but no, she likes to be difficult.”
It was their third time having a baby at Waikato Hospital and the staff were “phenomenal”.
For Rita, the leap day arrival was a bit unexpected but not too surprising.
“If it had to be a family that had a leap day baby, of course it was going to be us because we end up with unusual things happening.”
That includes a pattern of threes around birthdays.
Cadence landed on March 3, while Lachlan and Rita’s birthdays are three days apart.
Both Rowan and Rita are the eldest of three siblings.
And, now, Lissette’s birthday is three days from her sister Cadence’s.
However, they’re planning to celebrate it on February 28 on most years, so she can own February as her birth month.
“[Every] 29th Feb is going to be feeling special. To put it in perspective, one of my mother's [64-years-old] friends is having her sweet 16 this year.”
The date is also special for 11 other new babies in Waikato Hospital. Te Whatu Ora Waikato said the hospital’s first leap day baby was born at 12.17am.