Ike, Ike, baby

I don't know why I hadn't seen this story coming. In retrospect, it seems so obvious.

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.

You see this kind of story about eight months or so after major nature events. Back in January of 1985, when a 13-inch snowstorm closed down the city of San Antonio for a couple of days, there was a reported spike in the birth rate that fall. Sometimes this sort of thing is more anecdote than evidence, but I can believe it happened here after Ike. Perhaps it's time to add "condoms" to the standard hurricane preparation checklist. I'm just saying.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 13, 2009 to Hurricane Katrina