From the Los Angeles Times
War's Joyous Fallout in San Diego: Baby Boom
Births at the Naval Medical Center are up 20% since late 2001, coming like clockwork after deployments or returns. Other base hospitals report a similar phenomenon. By Tony Perry Times Staff Writer
May 23, 2006
SAN DIEGO They used to ring a bell at the Naval Medical Center here each time a baby was born. And every baby's name was printed in the base newspaper.
No more. There's no time for such niceties.
A baby boom is underway here.
Births among the Navy and Marine Corps wives who come here for delivery are up 20% since the United States launched its war on terrorism in late 2001.
The busiest times in the ultramodern maternity ward are nine to 10 months after troops return from an overseas deployment a phenomenon reported at military hospitals throughout the country.
Naval Medical Center San Diego has the busiest delivery rooms of any Navy hospital in the country, averaging about 350 babies a month, officials said. Before Sept. 11, 2001, the figure was about 288.
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For husbands and wives, that kind of uncertainty can lead to some soul-searching about starting a family.
"We made it through one deployment with no problem, but then we figured, 'Should we tempt fate? What if something happens this time?' " said Meredith Simpson, 25, whose husband is Lt. Neal Simpson, an infantry officer.
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Although it is difficult to be pregnant while your husband is away, said Leanne, 36, there is joy at the end. "It's a beautiful thing to hand your husband his child when he gets off that bus," she said.
War gives added meaning to having a family, she said.
"A war makes you realize your own mortality," she said. "The children are the best part of what our husbands leave behind when they go away to war."
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