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Bundles after the storm
  
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By LAUREN HODGES
Nine months after Hurricane Ike hit The Woodlands and greater Houston, area hospitals are seeing an increase in child births.
With most businesses closed in the storm’s aftermath, couples found themselves with more free time than usual.
Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands is one of the hospitals that has seen an increase in deliveries.
Mary Hersey, director of women and newborn services, said some of their doctors’ patient loads have increased.
“They are telling us it’s Hurricane Ike,” Hersey said. “That is what has been suspected. Some say they have seen an increase and some say it is pretty steady.”
Obstetrician and gynecologist Beena Johnson, who works out of Memorial Hermann, said she expected deliveries to increase 50 percent compared to last year.
During the first two weeks in June, Memorial Hermann was fully booked for scheduled inductions and C sections, Hersey said.
That is not normal for the hospital, which usually schedules up to six Cesarean sections and seven inductions a week.
On May 4 there were 31 deliveries at Memorial Hermann, compared to 61 on June 4.
Margaret Mary Peters, 21, of Klein/Spring, gave birth to an 8-pound, 3-ounce baby girl at 6:35 p.m. June 5, who she named Kaydence Izabelle Meyer. Peter said her and her fiance can definitely say Meyer is an Ike baby.
With no power for about two weeks and no power in the area, Peters said they lived off beer, ice and each other.
“At one point in time when she gets old enough we will let her know she is a hurricane baby,” Peters said.
Hersey said there had been 134 deliveries in the month of June as of June 10. There have now been 402 births for the month of June recorded, compared to 335 last year. The highest amount of deliveries at Memorial Hermann in previous years was about 350. Hersey also said they were moving patients to the floor above the delivery floor because they were running out of room.
According to a spokesperson for St. Luke’s The Woodlands Hospital, doctors there have not experienced an increase, which they said could be due to the fact that they are not accepting new patients at this time.
Dr. Marra Francis, of Obstetrics and Gynecology of The Woodlands, said she and partner Dr. Clayton Young thought they had many more people due in June than in years past. But after looking at the numbers, they found they have the same amount of eight-month pregnant patients as they did last year.
With most businesses closed in the storm’s aftermath, couples found themselves with more free time than usual.
Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands is one of the hospitals that has seen an increase in deliveries.
Mary Hersey, director of women and newborn services, said some of their doctors’ patient loads have increased.
“They are telling us it’s Hurricane Ike,” Hersey said. “That is what has been suspected. Some say they have seen an increase and some say it is pretty steady.”
Obstetrician and gynecologist Beena Johnson, who works out of Memorial Hermann, said she expected deliveries to increase 50 percent compared to last year.
During the first two weeks in June, Memorial Hermann was fully booked for scheduled inductions and C sections, Hersey said.
That is not normal for the hospital, which usually schedules up to six Cesarean sections and seven inductions a week.
On May 4 there were 31 deliveries at Memorial Hermann, compared to 61 on June 4.
Margaret Mary Peters, 21, of Klein/Spring, gave birth to an 8-pound, 3-ounce baby girl at 6:35 p.m. June 5, who she named Kaydence Izabelle Meyer. Peter said her and her fiance can definitely say Meyer is an Ike baby.
With no power for about two weeks and no power in the area, Peters said they lived off beer, ice and each other.
“At one point in time when she gets old enough we will let her know she is a hurricane baby,” Peters said.
Hersey said there had been 134 deliveries in the month of June as of June 10. There have now been 402 births for the month of June recorded, compared to 335 last year. The highest amount of deliveries at Memorial Hermann in previous years was about 350. Hersey also said they were moving patients to the floor above the delivery floor because they were running out of room.
According to a spokesperson for St. Luke’s The Woodlands Hospital, doctors there have not experienced an increase, which they said could be due to the fact that they are not accepting new patients at this time.
Dr. Marra Francis, of Obstetrics and Gynecology of The Woodlands, said she and partner Dr. Clayton Young thought they had many more people due in June than in years past. But after looking at the numbers, they found they have the same amount of eight-month pregnant patients as they did last year.
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