The Ike baby boom bust

Remember this Chron story from May?

Doctors who work in Houston’s busiest maternity ward say they’re expecting an especially bustling June, leading some to conclude that Hurricane Ike was the perfect storm for making babies.

It’s been eight months since Ike knocked out the region’s electricity, leaving many with no television, Internet access or other distractions for days, if not weeks. Now there’s a curious bump in the number of women who are rounding out their third trimesters of pregnancy.

Several obstetrical practices associated with The Woman’s Hospital of Texas are extra-busy these days with prenatal care.

“I looked, somewhat in shock, at my little book of deliveries for June, and it’s 26,” said Dr. John Irwin, president of Obstetrical and Gynecological Associates.

He routinely delivers 15 to 20 babies a month and called the Ike boomlet “a real phenomenon.” His colleagues in the 35-physician practice have seen a similar increase in patients who probably conceived during the powerless days after Ike.

“There’s about a 25 percent increase in the number of deliveries coming up in mid-June to mid-July,” said Irwin, also chief of surgery service at Woman’s Hospital.

Turns out it was more illusion than reality.

Hair Balls got actual birth figures from the Hermann Hospital System (eight big hospitals for births), Texas Women’s Hospital, LBJ and Ben Taub; we also talked to Methodist. While some saw an increase in births in June/July 2009 over the previous year, others saw drops.

“We are not seeing anything that can be attributed to an Ike baby boom,” says Jennifer Hart, spokesperson for Hermann. “It’s just normal summer numbers.”

I wouldn’t have been surprised if there had been an uptick, and I’m not surprised to hear that it was mostly hype. Kudos to Hair Balls for being enough of a stickler about it to go back and check.

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One Response to The Ike baby boom bust

  1. votingpublic says:

    It was hotter than heck when Ike hit. Did they really think people with no a/c, sitting around sweating, were going to feel particularly amorous?

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