Hurricane Ike’s baby boom
MySanAntonio.com reported May 12 on Hurricane Ike‘s possible “baby boom” effect on the Houston area.
According to Dr. John Irwin, president of Obstetrical and Gynecological Associates and chief of surgery service at The Woman’s Hospital of TX:
There’s about a 25% increase in the number of deliveries coming up in mid-June to mid-July.
8 months ago, Ike left many without power for days, which seems to have resulted in “a real phenomenon,” Irwin said. The hospital expects ~100 more deliveries this summer than last.
The article added…
Storms and blackouts are routinely remembered with baby bounties. But this time, with the recession creeping in, folks had multiple reasons to stop going out and start snuggling in.
Dr. Ferdinand Plavidal, chief of obstetrics at Woman’s, delivered 9 babies last July. A year later, he has 20 scheduled….
Dr. Rakhi Dimino, an obstetrician/gynecologist with Houston Women’s Care Associates, is sure there’s something to this Ike baby boom.
She’s due June 10.
She was on call at Woman’s as the hurricane passed over and left around noon that Saturday. She was with her husband at home until her office reopened the following Tuesday.
So what was happening at the Dimino home those 2-1/2 days?
“What everybody else in Houston was doing,” said Dimino, 33, whose baby will be her first. “You can only do so much when there’s no television, nothing open and there’s nowhere to go.”
Wonder how many boys will be named Ike?
[Photo attribution: ImpactLab.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Ike or Dwight cause Ike was President Dwight Eisenhower’s nickname.
Cute story. :)
I like Ike.
Lol!!!
I just love the images I get from this.
“Honey, the power’s out.”
“Darn. What are we going to do now?”
“I dunno.”
“…wanna do the dirty?”
“Well…ok. Nothing better to do, I guess.”
9 months later…hehehe.
Cute kid.
My wife gave birth to 5 children in 7 years.
When she tells people that they get that, “What were thinking?” look in their eyes?
Sometimes people would ask what has to be the most bigoted question on earth, “Don’t you know what causes that?
The implication being you have to be stupid and/or irresponsible to have that many children that close toether.
If my wife was in a particulary confrontational mood she would tell them about the other two we lost by miscarriage or Ask them to pick which ones they think we should do away with.
If she was in a particularly gracious mood she would say, “We did not have a tv.”
Rude bigoted questions like those deserve direct frank responses that put the onus back on the intolerant, judgemental inquisitor.
“And just who might you be when you’re at home, where your petty opinions might be authorized, cause from where I’m standing your pretentious attitude is way out of bounds.”
“Haven’t you got some knitting you could be doing or a drain to unstop?”
yor bro ken
Yeah, we get that, too. Or people will smile at me, ask if this is my first child and when I say, “Oh, no, it’s number seven” I get the nastiest scowls. I had a CNA at work ask me when I was going to get spayed.
Other time I will be out with the two littlest girls and the conversation will turn to the baby, do we know what it is… a boy… people will say, “Oh, finally got your boy, huh?” and before I can say anything, one or both of the girls will usually say, “Yeah, and we have two brothers at home, and two sisters, too!”
Our favorite comebacks to rude comments:
* We haven’t had an ugly one yet.
* We’re trying to outbreed the stupid people. Apparently we need at least one more.
* I don’t need to get “fixed”, obviously I’m not broken.
We’re trying to outbreed the stupid people. Apparently we need at least one more.
Now that’s one I like. I’ll be sure to pass this one on to several friends!
What a doll!
ken and Elisabeth — EXCELLENT!!! :D
Bring on those beautiful babies!
(Blessed) Mother Teresa of Calcutta: “How can there be too many babies? That is like saying there are too many flowers.”
I’d like to squeeze those puffy lil cheeks!!!
congratulations to yor bro ken and elizabeth on their productivity.
along with lethal potential of the hybrid cars the leftists are driving of their own free choice….and their own fertility failures … well…
it’s natural selection!
My favorite response to the large family inquiry, “Don’t you know how it happens?” is:
“Yes, and now my wife and I make sure to wash our underwear separately.”
This whole Hurricane Ike baby boom really annoys me. It’s just media hype.
First of all – the baby boom is in San Antonio?
I was in Houston for Hurricane Ike (and we’re having an “Ike” baby, I’m so tired of hearing about it.) Our utilities were restored within 3 days, though.
Let me tell you, at 90%+ humidity, hot weather, no electricity, no AC, unable to even drink the water in most of the city, … the last thing people wanted to do was TOUCH each other. It was hot and sweaty and miserable, and to top it off, it was hard to get food at first so everyone was eating junk off their stash. Many families had relatives and neighbors staying with them, to boot.
So, unless they evacuated to a hotel… I just don’t buy it.
My favorite response to “Don’t you know what causes that?” is, “Yes, and it’s really fun. You should try it.”
Perhaps I can be more articulate why the baby boom thing annoys me.
It inherently assumes that the parents would not be having sex otherwise. It ignores the prevalence of contraception throughout our culture, and insults those who practice abstinence by implying that they simply wouldn’t be able to control themselves if there’s nothing on TV, that distraction is the only way for abstinence to be successful.
The fact is, nowadays, a sexually active woman who is on no form of birth control is a small minority.
BTW- we’re having our fourth girl and don’t have a name! Help me out here!
I like old fashioned old lady names and my husband likes trendy/cheerleader names. We’re at an impasse!
What about Madison?..my daughters name. Emily? Lila, Lilly?
Milehimama, try stork net.com. I picked my Maddie’s name from there.
“Let me tell you, at 90%+ humidity, hot weather, no electricity, no AC, unable to even drink the water in most of the city, … the last thing people wanted to do was TOUCH each other.” LOL
You make some good points, Milehimama.
I like Irish names! :)
Emma
Rose
Olivia
Eva
Helen
Shirley
Congratulations, Milehimama!! :)
Milehimama, Congrats!
Check the “saint of the day” on or around your due date for names. Here are a few ideas:
Bernadette
Caroline
Claire
Elizabeth
Kateri
Lucy
Teresa
Sarah
Sofia
Sonia
Carla, I like your choices! I was going to put Olivia and Helen on my list as well.
I have a Sarah!! :)
My friend has a Shirley and she is adorable!! I call her my ShirleyWhirleyGirley.
LOL, Carla!
I already used the names (or close to them) Claire, Emma, Elizabeth…
My current favorite is Octavia Joy, Agnes Joy, Lily Agnes, Agatha Rose, Margaret, or Lilliana.
It’s our 8th baby, that’s why I like Octavia so much.
All of which make my husband vomit. He likes Stephanie, Tiffany, and Kaylee.
Your 8th child, Milehimama? God bless you and your amazing husband and family!!
I’m partial to Anna :) I also favor more traditional names for girls.
I have to say that my father in law is totally the type to ask someone “Don’t you know what causes that!?”
We went to a baseball game the other day and the family in front of us had 5 little girls, including a newborn. My father in law said “Oh man, I hope that one’s a boy” To which they replied, no she’s a girl, but we do have a boy at home…and 3 other girls!”
I think his official response was “wow” though he told us later he almost said “Don’t you have a TV?”
The thing is, my father in law has 4 sons and even with that size family he still got those types of comments. He actually supports large families.
Isabella Rose
Hayli Gabrielle
Ashley
Abigail
Emily
you want an old fashioned name with a classy cheerleader type name?
My one living grandparent is named Alexia, but I’d take that name and change it to Alexis and have the middle name be Rose. Alexis could be a cheerleader type name and then Rose is sort of old fashioned.
Melody, Clauidia, Victoria, Sasha, Kilee, Dawn.
Milehimama, I’ve always had some strange fascination with the name Evangeline, which can be shortened to the cheerleader-y Evie/Angie type stuff.
My name was once somewhat old-fashioned — when I was a kid people always asked why my parents chose it; it’s more popular now — but it easily shortens into Alex, Ally, and Lexy, among other nicknames. Those are the main three people use with me; I use them like friends-list filters — different groups of friends call me different names depending on where/who they know me from. Close/family friends call me Ally, acquaintances usually call me Alex, high school friends often go for Lexy or the slightly visually offensive Lexi. Work is a tough one because half of them know me through mutual acquaintances (Alex) and half of them know me through close/family friends (Ally); Ally usually seems to win out so I guess I’m more of an Ally than an Alex. I actually recently had to correct my boss because I realized that I was being credited in programs as “Ally Smith” instead of “Alexandra Smith!”
Alexandra, Alex, Ally,
I know a little boy named Evangeline. Thoughts? :)
Samantha, Sally, Peggy, Gail.
I know a little boy named Evangeline.
He’s probably named after St. John the Evangelist!
I have cousins named Adrian and Angel, common boy names in Mexico but they got teased a lot.