SPECIAL DELIVERY : THE BIRTH PROCESS HAS BECOME A FAMILY AFFAIR : Mark Baby for Delivery in the Fall
If human nature is at all predictable, hospital maternity wards will be particularly busy come summer and fall.
“You never take vacation in the summer if you work obstetrics,†said Tess Payne, registered nurse and director of obstetric education at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, the hospital that delivers the most babies every year in Orange County.
The baby bonanza months at St. Joseph are July, August, September and October. Last September, the hospital delivered a record 544 babies, Payne said.
Those summer and fall births correlate with the previous year’s holiday season. Fall and winter holidays mean families spend more time together, plus some of that time is often spent drinking and at parties, she said. Couples tend to be more relaxed. With diplomatic words and a smile, Payne explained it as “cyclic seasons in the year when people are more apt to get pregnant.â€
The numbers at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, which has the second highest volume of deliveries in the county, support the phenomenon. A spokeswoman said the maternity floor’s busiest month in 1987 was September, when 431 babies were welcomed by proud parents.
“They’re Christmas babies,†is how Chris Taugher at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach put it. Taugher, registered nurse and education coordinator for obstetrics at Hoag, said August and September continue to be very busy months on the maternity floor “in spite of the fact that people can plan these days.â€
And the ageless forces of Mother Nature still appear to be a factor affecting when babies arrive in the world.
“There is an incredible correlation†between rain or a change in the barometric pressure and activity in the delivery room, Payne said. Those changes in the weather tend to cause a pregnant woman’s amniotic sac to break. Once that happens, the risk of infection to the fetus increases, so physicians often induce labor if it doesn’t start naturally.
