An interesting effect is expected to come out of the disaster Hurricane Ike brought forth: a mini baby boom. One hospital in Houston has even gone as far as building an extra wing in anticipation of the surge in births.  That seems a little like jumping the gun to me. Once the boom is over, will it be viewed as a wasted expense or needed addition? Would they have needed the extra wing if this mini boom didn’t happen? Just asking.

Dr. Dimino, from The Houston Women’s Care Associates, commented:

“After the hurricane was over our power was out for a day or so and that’s all it took,” she said. “When your power is out there’s not that much to do.”

Jenifer Bratter sees connections between sociological major events, like World War II and 9/11, and an increase in birth rates:

That is one reason baby boomlets follow “major events” says sociologist Jenifer Bratter, the associate director of Rice University’s Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life. “This pattern jibes with traditional patterns of the ways fertility surges can respond to major events,” she says, “be it the baby boom as linked to soldiers coming home from World War II to even the Oklahoma City bombing, which also had an associated elevation in births in surrounding Oklahoma counties.”