Baby Boom: Births Spike At Vanderbilt

NASHVILLE, TN — There's a bit of a baby boom underway in the Nashville area, Vanderbitl University Medical Center officials say.

Vanderbilt is averaging 400 births per month over the last three months, a 20 percent increase. It is the busiest period of new births in the hospital's history.

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So what's behind the boom? Oftentimes, microbursts of births can be tied to a specific civic event such a prolonged power outages or extended periods of cold weather nine to ten months before the spike in the birth rate, as couples stuck inside or without electronic distraction find, um, other ways to stay entertained.

Cities also sometimes see increased births that can be tied to acute periods of celebration, such as the local sports team winning a championship. In this case, though, the births are coming nine to ten months after a relatively mild winter and VUMC doctors told WKRN there's reason to believe this isn't an aberration and instead may be the new normal.

“Certainly as the economy has recovered, we are seeing more and more people want to start a family or grow their existing family. In addition to that, Nashville as a whole is experiencing a big population boom as more and more people move here. Many of those people are women and of child bearing age,” Dr. Adam Huggins, assistant professor of Clinical Obstetrics Gynecology at VUMC, told the station.

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