Timing it right: Baby boom on New Year!

Bengaluru: The first day of the year was hailed not only with gifts and greetings but many expectant mothers also brought home their angels of joy. “My delivery was due on the fourth and I am so glad I had a baby girl this morning at 9 am. It is my perfect New Year gift,” says thirty-two-year-old Shreya Sinha who is ecstatic in welcoming home a girl a few years after she had had a boy. “We all wanted a girl and hence as soon as our families got the good news, they all started celebrating,” says Shreya's husband.

City-based Cloudnine Hospital witnessed twenty-five deliveries while four expectant mothers went into labour.

“Thankfully, compared to the last few years, people are not that strict or fixated on the delivery dates and so we are not pressurised with such deliveries. All were normal deliveries and in some cases where there were indications they went elective,” says Dr Prakash Kini, gynaecologist at Cloudnine, Jayanagar.

Another city hospital witnessed some 15 deliveries which were due on the first day of the year. “It’s a boy and I cannot think of any better New Year gift,” says Rajath speaking with Deccan Chronicle while his wife was asleep. “All the decisions that we take at the hospital will be medically and clinically correct for the mother and her baby. And, the deliveries on Friday are taking place as a natural process without any influence of the date,” adds Dr Sunil Eshwar, MBBS, MD - Obstetrics and Gynecology, DNB (Obstetrics and Gynecology), Apollo Cradle.

Doctors however, advise expectant mothers and families not to be fixated on dates and astrology. “Parents do push us regarding delivery timing based on what their astrologers tell them, which should not be the case. Despite the date-fixation coming down, parents are yet to be liberal about the delivery time,” adds Dr Kini.

“I always advise parents to not be pressurised by the date issue and to look at a wholesome birth with an ideal weight rather than the time and date of delivery. But yes, babies born on first day of the year are lucky because all the calculations become easy,” sums up Dr Asha Benakappa, Director of Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health (IGICH).