Baby boom or baby bust aka will the maternity ward be quieter this time?

[pjani]

So there were plenty of predictions that there would be a baby boom 9 months after lockdown.

However I've seen some articles suggesting a 'baby bust' instead as anxiety about the pandemic made people put off their plans to have a kid, or lockdown anxiety wasn't very conducive to babymaking, or people were overwhelmed by having their existing kids at home with them all the time.

Anyone work in antenatal scan appointments or similar and have some data on the ground?

I am curious as I'm pregnant and due in peak delivery month September, and had a crap time in some ways with baby #1 and I think it was partly as they were full.

If ante-natal clinics are quiet maybe more midwives would be around for those giving birth?

The post war boom was in the reverie following war's finish, so any similar baby boom would presumably occur 9 mos+ after covid restrictions ended (assuming the economy wasn't destroyed)?

We’re manic now and set continue that way for a long while yet I think. Recent bookings have been through the roof compared to last years numbers. Xmas and NY are going to be very busy I reckon

I feel like I’m the only one that ISN’T pregnant at the moment

Lots of lockdown pregnancy announcements and scan pictures being forwarded to me. The babies will be born between November and February that I currently know of.

I don’t know anyone that is putting off ttc.

My midwife told me there she has had lots of booking in appointment all of a sudden!

Oh well! Thanks for the responses...

I had a baby in the middle off it all in May! I was aloud to leave 6 hours after having the baby so never left the labour department when leaving with the baby I was at the very end off the corridor so I had to walk past all the rooms and all rooms where empty apart from 1 but when I had my first (November baby) they were so busy that I kept being left for emergency's etc! X

Damn it I’m a pre lockdown preggo, due beginning of November, it’s going to be a packed school year isn’t it?!

Tbh I honestly think November is a busy month as it is anyway with valentines babies 😂😂😂

The day of my last period was lockdown day. Due Xmas. Unexpected baby. In the sense we had Dd after 15 years losses and struggles and never thought lightening would strike twice.

"I am curious as I'm pregnant and due in peak delivery month September"

Well I'm due in September and I don't know about you but I got pregnant before lockdown

The lockdown babies will be due from December onwards, since lockdown started in March.

I do know of one already, due end of December so they must have conceived very quickly! First baby.

There might be a boom of first babies but I think those of us with young DC already are unlikely to have had time or energy for TTC!

Part of my job involves liaising with the people who do school place planning. Guess I've got a busy couple of years ahead!

I'm another that got pregnant before lockdown (due end of October) Oh dear, I'm going to have to fight for a school place

Our local hospital usually handles 350 births a month.

In December they have 600 booked in.

I'm one of them, and DH doesn't drive.

@TakeMeToYourLiar how did you find that out? So interesting and fingers crossed you give birth at the most opportune moment...

A midwife friend mentioned how many births for December.

This trust publishes an intro graphic showing how many babies they deliver each month

Why are so many choosing to have a baby now? I guess if you have a super secure job or are otherwise indecently financially secure it’s okay but otherwise it seems a less than ideal time.

Maybe I’m just a bit of a pessimist.

@bluetongue most of the couples I know who have recently announced pregnancy have struggled to conceive for years and suddenly found their much longer for child on the way. They’ve all been furloughed or working from home and I think having time to cook and eat right, go for walks, prioritise sex, and rest without the stresses of the commute, high powered jobs etc has actually helped with conception.

I recon people also expect a huge change in wfh, so in the future less childcare costs- plus a lot of people I know are better off thanks to saving transport costs and mortgage holidays when not really needed.

If you’re due in September then surely you conceived before lockdown so the impact of covid is completely irrelevant?!

I’m due early November and conceived in mid Feb, found out I was pregnant at the beginning of lockdown. If I hadn’t conceived that month we almost certainly would have waited as it’s been a horrible time to be pregnant and I suspect will be a horrible time to give birth, right in the middle of cold and flu season and probably a second wave.

There was a baby boom 2009-ish, so depths of the last recession. I figured it was women having nothing left to lose re career.

But maybe it’s a primeval response to a stressful situation, keeping the species going through expected hard times.

Plus boredom.

Comparison to the 1940s doesn’t work because the men weren’t there to make the babies in the war.

@HarrietM87 yes conceived pre-covid even (December).

My forlorn hope was that if there is a big drop-off in pregnancies midwives would be redirected from ante-natal clinics to birth suites. Eg if the booking appointments, 12 week scans etc had really slowed there might be resources reallocated.

I’m due next month and my hospital only seems quiet because the waiting areas are just women - no partners/extended family/children with them for appointments.

But still loooooong waiting times for scans and clinics (I’m there every week, at least 4/5 hours a time with all the waiting ).

September has always been a busy month for births because of conception over Xmas/NY.

Are you worried about the hospital or birth centre being too busy, with too many birthing women for the number of midwives and other staff, and not getting the care you need??

I'm not sure what happens when they have too many patients and not enough staff, but there must be protocols in place. I wonder if they redirect some women to other hospitals and birth centres nearby.

Would you consider a home birth? It's one way to guarantee that you'll have a midwife with you all the time (as opposed to popping in and out while they check on other patients).