Area hospital sees Eagles baby boom
Nine months after Super Bowl win, hospital reports record births
The newest Eagles fans are entering the world at the Chester County Hospital.
Nov. 4 marksed exactly nine months since the Eagles won the Super Bowl, and officials at the Chester County Hospital say they have had the highest number of births in the month of October, and November looks like it is on track to break a record, too.
“We have had the highest number of births (255) we have had in more than 15 years,” said Fran Doyle, director of maternity health services at the hospital. “Last night we had eight
deliveries in the course of eight hours. Normally, we have eight deliveries in a day.”
People like celebrating, especially during a big event like a Super Bowl, and that could explain the uptick in births, Doyle said.
“Obstetricians are telling me that we should expect an increase in the number of births (in November), so we are gearing up,” Doyle said.
The hospital, which has a maternal/infant health services team consisting of highly skilled, board-certified obstetricians, neonatologists, nurse practitioners, and nurses, delivers on average 2,600 babies per year.
“Sometimes we get very busy and that is a challenge, but our employees are used to working very hard,” Doyle said of the increased workload. “We’re happy to be busy, and we would rather be busy than slow.”
Doyle said August typically sees the greatest number of live births, and a good number of twins are born as well.
Doyle said just about all of the professionals in the maternity ward are Eagles fans.
All of the “Eagles” babies are healthy, she said.
There is limited evidence that sports victories can cause spikes in birth rates in the city or region whose team won the game. Multiple surveys conducted in Spain have suggested that birth rates in Catalonia spiked nine months after local teams won big games, and there were reports that Boston experienced a baby boom nine months after the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. Nine months after New Zealand defeated France in the World Cup, multiple hospitals reported an increase in their birth rates.
But there is no word yet on whether any of the parents named their children after Eagles’ players.