Sarasota Memorial Health Care System welcomes 13 ‘lucky Leap Day babies,’ staff announces

Sarasota Memorial’s Venice campus welcomes one of them, its first ever on Feb. 29

This is one of the ‘leaplings.’ Photo courtesy Sarasota Memorial Health Care

“Sarasota Memorial Health Care System welcomed a total of 13 lucky Leap Day babies” on Feb. 29, Allison Gottermeier, multi-media producer for the system, wrote in a March 1 announcement.

“Twelve ‘leaplings’ were born at the Sarasota Campus and one was born at the Venice Campus,” she wrote.

The first ever Leap Day baby born at SMH-Venice was Emmett Sinibaldi, who arrived at 7:56 a.m. on Feb. 29, weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces, and measuring 20 inches long,” Gottermeier reported. His parents — Josh and Angela — “live on Venice Island along with Emmett’s 3-year-old big brother Henry, she added.

“The chances of a baby being born on Feb. 29th are 1 in 1,461,” Gottermeier pointed out. Previously, the Sarasota Campus delivered seven babies on Leap Day in 2016, and eight on Feb. 29, 2020, she noted.