Oh, baby

Western Maine hospitals see a mini birthing boom

LEWISTON – It isn’t likely to send Social Security actuaries into a tizzy, but it appears the Twin Cities and western Maine are experiencing something of a mini baby boom this summer.

With 139 June births leading the way, the city’s two medical centers are on track to deliver 399 babies by month’s end. That’s 66 more little ones for June, July and August this year than for the same three months of 2003, a 20 percent increase.

In western Maine, Franklin Memorial in Farmington, Stephens Memorial in Norway and Rumford Hospital together experienced a 19 percent increase over last year for the three summer months, seeing 29 more births. Rumford led the way with a 71 percent increase.

Don’t scratch your head and check the calendar for a blackout or other disaster that might have encouraged people to snuggle up sometime last October, November or December. There wasn’t any one thing to prompt it, according to Kayt DeMerchant, spokeswoman for St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center.

“Summer months are usually a period of higher birth rates,” she said. “Nurses on the unit believe this is for two reasons: People tend to procreate more in the cold months of a Maine winter, which means more babies in summer. Also, many people planning pregnancies shoot for summer babies so they can have maternity leave in nice weather.”

But why more this year than last?

Kim Verville, a registered nurse who’s worked at St. Mary’s birthing unit for the past nine years, says there’s no obvious reason, and the parents she’s spoken with haven’t offered any clues hinting at a trend.

“It’s been increasing all year,” Verville said of St. Mary’s birth rates. “For most of them, I just think it’s time. A lot of people want to have babies.”

St. Mary’s baby count went zooming up in June. That’s when 71 newborns arrived there compared with 47 a year earlier.

But St. Mary’s wasn’t alone in seeing more births in June. Central Maine Medical Center also saw a bit of a surge, 68 this year compared with 58 in June 2003, according to Randy Dustin, a CMMC spokesman.

Rumford Hospital saw the biggest summer increase, by percent, with a 71 percent jump in births this summer over last. The number jumped from 21 births in the three summer months of 2003 to 36 this year.

While Franklin Memorial’s births were only up slightly for the summer, Nurse Manager MaryAnne Goodwin said the hospital is expecting a surprising 12 sets of twins in the coming months. The hospital already delivered two sets this year, and saw two area mothers head to Maine Medical Center in Portland to deliver triplets. Normally, the hospital delivers a couple sets of twins a year, she said.

June appears to be Maine’s busiest month this year for childbirth, according to preliminary and incomplete figures compiled by the state’s Office of Data, Research and Vital Statistics.

Alice Rohman, a statistician in the office, noted this June saw 1,216 births recorded in Maine. Last year the figure was 1,107.

Statewide, July’s birth count was down, 1,161 compared with 1,218 in 2003.

August figures were not complete.

Rohman’s numbers show that July and August are the most popular months for giving birth in Maine, while December is the month that typically sees fewest births, based on a decade of data.

Whatever might be prompting the local birthing boom this summer, Verville, the delivery and maternity nurse at St. Mary’s, says it seems to be putting smiles on faces. She said she’s seeing “lots of happy people.”