Obama baby boom: Predicted surge in births goes bust
On Nov. 4, the hope and happiness seemed boundless for supporters of President-elect Barack Obama, leading some to speculate, with a wink and a nod, that in nine months there would be a virtual Obama baby boom -- a celebratory uptick in the national birthrate.
But now, 40 weeks later -- the average human gestation period -- MSNBC is reporting the prediction has largely been nothing more than, well, false hope. In reality, experts said, a generation is not borne from one night.
In Chicago, ground zero for Obama's election celebration, area hospitals confirm that they have not seen a noticeable surge in births.
"We definitely did not see that here," said Chris James, a spokesman for the University of Chicago Medical Center. Neither had staff at Edward Hospital in Naperville, said Brian Davis, vice president of the hospital. And while nurses at Rush University Medical Center were unusually busy last week, "babies are unpredictable," spokeswoman Kim Waterman said. "You can't tie it back to a certain date."
