STORY:
Millennium Moms Getting Ready

Hype over first baby increases as moms prepare for big baby day

(Everything2000) As most of us prepare for New Year's Eve by buying noisemakers, champagne and fancy clothes, one group of women getting ready by packing up diapers, rattles and slippers.

Soon-to-be moms are getting ready and so are hospitals around the world.

Despite the fact that the date to conceive a millennium baby was promoted by radio stations, bookmakers and others the increase in births this New Year is not going to be up much over previous years. However, there may be some changes in store for some millennium moms.

In Leicester, England moms are being asked to pack along a flashlight for that trip to the hospital. Two hospitals in Leicesters want patients to be prepared for a Y2K power outage and bringing a long a flashlight could come in handy if the power goes out. The hospitals plan to also keep the lights in rooms dim so they don't drain as much power this New Year's Eve.

In Thailand, health officials have warned doctors they could end up in jail if they perform Caesarian operations to time baby births with the onset of the new millennium. Doctors are worried too many moms will want the birth date of 01/01/00 and they don't want patients to pressure doctors into something that may not be necessary or healthy for the baby.

Hospitals in most metropolitan cities say they don't expect to see many more moms than usual for this time of year, but there are some exceptions. Doctors at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine are expecting 38 percent more births in December, and 30 percent more in January. At one clinic in Seoul, South Korea, about 350 women are expected to give birth in the week surrounding New Year's Day, a 15 percent jump from last year.

Couples who will give birth on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day would have had to conceive at the end of March or the beginning of April. The exact date to conceive and have a baby in exactly 9 months was April 9, 1999. If you're wondering just how many moms managed to by mistake, or on purpose hit that date, just check out www.Everything2000.com millennium mom section. Thousands of soon-to-be moms tell their stories and you will see that most managed to end up with a New Year due date simply by accident.

While most moms are just happy to be having a new addition to their family, some moms will end up in the limelight when the fist New Year baby of 2000 is born. Baseball's Minnesota T