New mom Melissa Ryan had an inkling that her baby could come on Leap Day.

With an induction scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 28, she knew it was possible baby Isaac would wait to be born on the day that only shows up on a calendar once every four years.

Indeed, Isaac was born to parents Melissa and Fredys Flores Ryan at Regions Hospital Family Birth Center in St. Paul on the following day — Feb. 29, Leap Day.

"It's pretty cool. I know it's pretty rare, so it's unique," the new mom said in a phone interview on Friday.

Nurses were eagerly anticipating coming in to work on Leap Day, said Alexis Felton, director of nursing at Regions Hospital. The staff wanted to gift the babies with a hat to celebrate being born on the special day. Postpartum nurse Dani Peck volunteered to crochet 12 green froggy hats for the Leap Day newborns.

"It just highlights how engaged our team is here and how much they love the work that they do," Felton said. "To come up with this idea and for someone to spend nonwork-related time making these hats. And just how excited everybody was to hand those out today."

While the froggy hat is too big for baby Isaac at the moment, it was a sweet gesture and the person who crocheted it did a great job, Melissa Ryan said as she waited for her discharge on Friday.

The Cottage Grove family is likely to celebrate Isaac's birthday on March 1 in the three years out of four that don't have a Leap Day, Ryan said.

Isaac Ryan was one of six Leap Babies born at Regions Hospital. There were four at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, two at Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater and one at Westfields Hospital in New Richmond, Wis.