Mom born on Leap Day welcomes baby on Leap Day
"I just hope that she knows that she's special."
A North Carolina mother who was born on Leap Day 40 years ago welcomed a baby girl Thursday, which also happens to be Leap Day.
Dr. Kai Sun, an assistant professor of medicine and a rheumatologist at Duke Health, and her husband, Michael Paik, welcomed their third child, a daughter they named Chloe at 5:12 a.m. on Feb. 29.
Baby Chloe made her big debut three days after her Feb. 26 due date and weighed in at 6 pounds and 13 ounces, Sun said.
"My husband and I were just saying how cool it would be if she were born on the same day as my birthday. And somehow, it happened," Sun told "Good Morning America" Thursday morning from her hospital bed at Duke University Hospital, where she also works.
Sun said she and her daughter are now both "doing well."
"She was breathing fast initially when she was born so they took her to the nursery for a little bit to see the pediatrician but everything checked out and she's peacefully sleeping," Sun said.
Chloe's Leap Day arrival is a notable one, not just because of her birth date but also because she is a rainbow baby for Sun and Paik.
"We had a miscarriage almost exactly a year ago and so that makes her more special," Sun said.
"There were some little things along the way," the doctor added of her pregnancy. "There was some abnormal finding on the initial ultrasound that we were nervous about. And then I had COVID. And I fell on my belly in [my] third trimester. There are just some small things that happened that made us a little nervous but everything turned out well at the end."
Sun said she had a message for her newborn.
"I just hope that she knows that she's special, not just because she has a special birthday," the mom of three said.
For her birthday this year, Sun said she plans on resting but she hopes to be discharged Friday along with Chloe. She said she is also looking forward to introducing Chloe to her older siblings, Charis, 5, and Caleb, 3, and celebrating more in the days to come.
"I look forward to taking her home with me and have her meet the rest of the family, my parents and her siblings," Sun said. "And we'll have cake, of course."
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