Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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September 19, 2010

Area maternity wards anticipate possible snow-baby boom

By KATE COIL Bluefield Daily Telegraph

PRINCETON — Nine months after a monster snow storm hit Mercer County, local hospitals are starting to see a slight increase in births and are expecting to see more “snow babies” being born in the next couple of months.

Linda Spangler is  a station nurse with the obstetrician department of Princeton Community Hospital. Spangler said the hospital has seen an increase of “snow babies.”

“I did the statistics for us and I do think we have more than expected,” she said. “Generally at this time, we have a lot more because it’s nine months after Thanksgiving and nine months after Christmas and nine months after the holidays. We usually have a lot being born between the last weeks of August and the early weeks of September.”

Spangler said there tend to be numerous births after major events, such as 9/11 or when troops were first being shipped off to Iraq and Afghanistan.

She also said prolonged periods where people stay inside, such as the 2009 snow storm, also lead to an increase of births.

“With the snow storm, there was quite a bit of time, a couple to three weeks,” she said. “There tend to be more babies after storms lasting for weeks.”

As of this time last year, 503 babies were born at Princeton Community Hospital, while as of this year, 454 have been born. Spangler said a baby boom in July 2009 can count for the differences.

Connie Ratliff, department leader for the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Clinch Valley Medical Center said the hospital has seen a recent increase in births, but over all, births are down this year from last.

“We’ve maybe seen just three to five,” she said. “It’s not significantly increased between this year and last. We are 20 births less than we had last year. We have had a slight increase in the past few months.”

Ratliff said the overall decrease in births might be more related to women giving birth in locations other than the medical center rather than external factors such as the economy.

James Coleman, head of administration at Bluefield Regional Medical Center, said the hospital has not seen much of an increase yet.

“The totals for this year are not an appreciable difference as far as last year’s,” he said

However, Coleman said the hospital’s nursing unit was expecting a considerable increase in births in October and November as a result of the snow storm.

Amanda Williams, 30, of Bluefield, is one such mother who gave birth during the middle of September. Her son was born on Sept. 14 and weighed 11 pounds and 9.7 ounces.

Williams said she noticed a large number of babies in the nursery when she went to give birth to her son at Princeton Community Hospital.

“There were a lot there,” Williams said. “The Friday before I went into labor, there were 14 babies in the nursery. Now there are only five.”

Williams also has an older son who was born on Sept. 25, 2008. She said it was unintentional to have both of her sons in the same month.

“I don’t know how I managed it,” Williams said.

However, her two sons are already getting along.

“They get along,” she said. “My older son always refers to him as his brother or ‘my brother.’ He was ready to have his baby brother.”

Williams did joke about her second son, who was nearly 12 pounds at birth.

“Pregnant women shouldn’t eat so much otherwise the baby will come out fat,” Williams said.

She did have sound advice for new mothers, especially in times of a downed economy.

“I feel you should at least be in a stable situation before having a child,” she said. “If you’re trying to be extravagant in raising it, now is not the best time to have a baby, but if you want to, you can manage it.”

Overall, Williams is enjoying having a new addition to the family.

“I love being a mommy,” she said.

— Contact Kate Coil at kcoil@bdtonline.com

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