Bengaluru: Once every four years, mothers with scheduled C-sections or induced births will either avoid or embrace their baby with a February 29 birthday, the day of the leap year.
Ankit Jain and and his wife Vinitha were excited to welcome a healthy male baby weighing 2.72 Kgs at 8.26 am Monday morning, despite it being a leap year delivery. “My wife and I are very happy and consider ourselves lucky to have a baby on such a special date,” says a happy Ankit who adds, “Celebrations do not come with a date and do not require a day. It comprises of moments.” The couple was against postponing or preponing the delivery and wanted a healthy baby.
“Four deliveries took place at Apollo Cradle, Jayanagar on Monday,” says Dr Arathi Bharath, Senior Consultant, Apollo Cradle Jayanagar.
Gynecologists add that there are many expectant mothers who want their babies delivered either a day before or later. The city’s expectant parents seem to have a rather mixed opinion about February 29. “Many women request that their deliveries be advanced or postponed as giving birth on February 29 will mean celebrating their child’s birthday once in every four years. However, we strongly believe in ‘natural is priceless’ to encourage natural childbirth and do not encourage a planned delivery. The deliveries on February 28 to March 1 are taking place as a natural process without any influence of the date. We have had five deliveries taking place on the February 28, and four taking place on Februar 29, at Apollo Cradle,” adds the doctor.
Eight deliveries happened at Cloudnine, Jayanagar, on Monday and according to the doctors, there seemed to be no hangups about the leap year. “Parents were happy to welcome their leap year babies and we had eight deliveries at Jayanagar, with mothers in active labour. We did not induce anybody over any particular date,” informs Dr Prakash Kini, gynecologist at Cloudnine Hospital.
Dr Kamini A Rao, the Founder and Medical Director of Milann fertility centre, adds that there were no deliveries at her centre on Monday. “On February 28 we had two deliveries and on the first there are two scheduled deliveries. Many patients have decided postponing or pre-poning for want of a proper birth date, barring emergency. As long as the safety of both mother and child is intact, if a woman is asking for a ceasarian section I don’t see a problem,” summed up Dr Kamini Rao.
