When Hurricane Irene rampaged up the East coast, she left more than downed trees and swirling flood waters in her wake — she also left a sharp upswing in births. According to msnbc.com, Sentara Obici Hospital in Suffolk, Va., reported that 15 babies were born between Friday night and Sunday morning. Their usual average is three or four births daily.
"The winds blew him in, I guess," new father Joseph Bulls, 35, of Suffolk, told msnbc.com. Braylon Michael Bulls was born at about 5:40 p.m. Saturday after a harrowing ride to the hospital through wind and rain and flying branches as mom Elizabeth Barry, 18, sped through her first labor.
The increase in births seems to confirm the old wives' tale that drops in barometric pressure prompt moms-to-be to go into labor. Not necessarily true, says Dr. Alison Stuebe, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina. She says that although some studies have found weak associations between barometric pressure and labor, no studies have found clear ties.
"I suspect there are nervous patients and nervous doctors and that's part of the boom," she told msnbc.com.
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