Following in Toronto’s footsteps, Buffalo faces storm-related baby boom

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Last November, there was a record snow storm in Buffalo, New York.

Snow banks up to seven feet high blanketed the city and many residents were snowed in, unable to go to work, left with no power and with nothing to do.

Well, almost nothing.

Local hospitals are bracing for a baby boom, with up to 50 more babies than average expected by the end of August. That’s nine months, give or take, after the storm.

Mercy Hospital president and chief executive C.J. Urlaub told WIVB that they normally see about nine deliveries a day.

“We’ve already had three days that we’ve had 14 and 16 deliveries,” he said.

He’s expecting about 250 babies before the month is up, an increase from the typical 200 deliveries.

That’s no surprise to GTA hospitals, which saw their own baby boom approximately nine months after the 2013 ice storm. In true patriotic fashion, the country as a whole also had a baby boom after the 2012 NHL lockout.

Lakeridge Health in Oshawa reported a record high of 265 births in August of 2014, above the typical average of 230.

Nine months after the NHL lockout, a B.C. hospital reported 106 births from April 22 to May 19. Prince George Regional Hospital normally has 60 to 80 babies a month. The next 30 days were also above average: From May 20 to June 16, there were 95 births.

Hamilton’s McMaster Medical Centre also saw a higher-than-average number of births in the same period. There were 549 babies were born at the hospital during May and June, a 13 per cent increase over 2012. But the numbers quickly levelled off, and staff were hesitant to link the spike to the lockout.

The popular pastime has spread south of the border, with Missouri and Texas also experiencing weather-related baby booms.

For doctors at Pemiscot Memorial Hospital in Missouri, a weather disaster means a quick calendar check, to ensure they will be fully staffed in about nine months.

“Natural disasters, something like that if it comes, nine to 10 months later we have more deliveries than previous months,” Dr. Antonia Guzman told KFVS.

LaToya Scales, a nurse at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, told NBC that on an average day, doctors will deliver 10 babies per day. In August of 2014, nine months after a storm, they had 24 deliveries in just one day.

“We’re seeing more births. We’ve had 50 more deliveries in July than we did this time last year,” Scales said.

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