But once I got to the hospital, the nurses checked it again and said I was completely fine. It was the strangest thing.”

Nurses induced Hajek anyway, and Taylor Hajek, who usually celebrates her birthday on Feb. 28, has been called a baby ever since. She said she has heard endless toddler jokes, even receiving a Barbie doll from a classmate on her 16th birthday.

“This year, everyone’s been asking me how I feel about turning five years old,” Hajek said.

Although she laughs about it now, Hajek said she felt left out of the birthday celebrations as a child.

“Normal kids got a birthday every year, and it was one of the reasons I got picked on as a kid,” she said. “It wasn’t fun, but I make such a big deal out of my birthday now.”

But anthropology junior Tyler Smart, who also was born on Feb. 29, 1992 said he doesn’t find much significance in birthdays.

“Birthdays aren’t really as important to me because mine only comes every four years,” he said.
“I don’t really see my friends’ birthdays as the biggest deal, which I think might rub them the wrong way sometimes.”

Smart, who also celebrates on Feb. 28, said what worried him most as a child were the logistics of the day itself.

“I was always really concerned about what happened to that day for three years,” he said. “It didn’t make sense to me, how that day could just appear out of nowhere.”

Despite the grief their birthday caused them both as children, Hajek and Smart both agree that it makes them feel unique and special.

“People find it really interesting,” Hajek said. “They always ask me questions, and that brings more attention to my birthday. I don’t feel left out anymore like I did as a child.”