Jul 17, 2008 5:29 pm US/Central
Highest Baby Boom In 50 Years
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Maybe you've noticed an increase in strollers and trikes in your neighborhood. It's all because of a proliferation of another kind... the species. According to some fresh federal data, we are in a baby boom. CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports.
"This is Benjamin Christopher Albert," said new mom Miranda Albert.
Little Benjamin is part of a new kind of baby boom, something demographers are calling a boomlet.
There were 4,315,000 babies born in this country in 2007. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, that's the highest number of births since 1957 when 4,300,000 new bundles of joy came into the world.
And Chicago appears to be keeping pace.
"It seems like everywhere I turn, people are having babies," Albert said. "My friends are having babies; my sister-in-law just delivered 13 days ago. My friend sitting in the room is expecting. So I guess it makes good sense."
"Last year we had 10,500 deliveries, and this year we're expecting to have 11,500," said Dr. Deborah Lindner, The Women's Group of Northwestern.
Dr. Lindner thinks the increase is due to both younger moms who may want to stay home and raise families, and older moms taking advantage of reproductive technologies.
One thing is clear: The experience for mothers of this generation is much different than it was for mothers of the original boomers.
"Moms would come into the delivery suite by themselves with no dad in tow, and they would practically be asleep, and most babies were then pulled out with forceps," Dr. Lindner said.
Times have changed since then.
The labor and delivery suite at the new Prentice Women's Hospital has all the latest technology bedside, flat screen TVs complete with Internet service and even 24-hour room service.
New mom Miranda Albert says she could stay for days.
After a closer look at these statistics, we should get a better idea of what's causing the boom. One thing city leaders can count on though is that we'll need more schools soon to accommodate all the babies.
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