New Years Babies Timing Questioned (And Answered)

By thenewsjunkie | January 1st, 2008 at 8:31 am

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Quick. What’s one “news” story guaranteed to be featured in
Tuesday’s local news? That’s right! The annual “First Baby of the New
Year” story. Snore!

But I do have some questions about the whole “time of birth” thing
anyway, even though I had mine waaaay past any new year in March. How
do you tell who the winner is for those
citywide contests? I mean, do hospitals synchronize their clocks? Are
nurses required to look at the clock? And when, officially, is a baby
born? Head out? Feet out? Cut, swaddled and Apgar scored? Do laboring
moms watch the clock to ensure their win all those great door prizes
(and is holding the baby in any longer than necessary worth any amount
of money?)

Thanks to Slate for handling these important New Years babies questions.

To
be born, the whole body must be out. And the time is whatever a nurse
calls out after looking at a clock on the wall. (So official!) As for
holding the baby in, it’s not likely. Though an epidural does dull the
urge to push so … if you’re working the system, go for the javelin.
On the flip side, hurrying the kid out just for some free diapers won’t
likely work either. Damn that Mother Nature! And if you’re going for
the c-section, well, you’d better schedule it at a very rural hospital.
It’s not likely doc will agree to surgery at 11:59 p.m. So you’ll want
the lowest traffic maternity ward you can find.

Is any of this worth a bag of free diapers and a post-partum interview on Channel 7?

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