http://www.spokane.net/stories/1999/Mar/7/s541600.asp

No comment. (For educational purposes only)Some couples try for millennium births

Justin Bachman/Associated Press

The odds oppose them, Y2K computer alarmists warn against it and doctors frown, but some prospective procreators are planning the mother of all due dates for their newborns.

For would-be parents hoping to have a Y2-Kid on New Year's Day, April 9 is the prime conception date -- although experts say it's almost impossible to plan a child's birth date without major technological intervention.

That doesn't discourage millennial mothers.

``It's going to be all new -- a new year, a new section of our lives,'' says Cameron House, a researcher in Bryan, Texas, who will schedule her artificial insemination at a clinic the second week of April if she and her husband don't conceive by then.

While some couples want to avoid hospitals next January because they are terrified of the Year 2000 computer bug wreaking havoc, Cameron House and others are seeking to add the joys of parenthood to their New Year's Day celebrations.

``My husband, he thinks it's kind of cool,'' says Michelle Ramirez, a human resources manager in Hollister, Calif. ``To me, at this point, I just want a baby.''

The first births of 2000 have captured the imaginations of couples and entrepreneurs alike.

A San Francisco Web site is selling a $49.99 Millennium Conception Kit, which includes a fertility guide, ovulation prediction tests, a pregnancy test, massage oil and candles.

A New Zealand company is sponsoring a contest to guess the sex and weight of that nation's first 2000 baby, and a British television network has incurred the wrath of churches with a documentary-style series about couples striving for millennium babies.

Obstetricians aren't thrilled about millennial baby enthusiasm, especially if women want help hurrying their baby along around midnight Dec. 31. They warn that inducing labor increases medical risks and costs. Atlanta gynecologist Mark Perloe, like many doctors, doesn't let patients pick their child's birthday.

``I think people set all kinds of crazy goals, but that doesn't mean that medical science should go out there to meet it,'' he says. ``It's not medically appropriate to do something like that.''

Women can schedule in-vitro fertilization and other clinical procedures electively, but that doesn't much improve the chance of birth on a specific day. Caesarean sections can also be elective, as medically warranted, but with Jan. 1, 2000, falling on a Saturday, many doctors will try to avoid the operations that day.

For those who want to try procreation the old-fashioned way, sex results in pregnancy only about 20 percent of the time, Perloe says. Most women's fertility cycles vary, and Perloe predicts ``less than a 1 percent chance'' of delivering on New Year's Day by having sex early next month.

``And there's a big window of two to three weeks on either side of the due date,'' he adds.

But none of that deters many from considering the idea, with some going so far as to use fertility drugs to alter their cycles and to locate doctors willing to help them.

However, on several computer bulletin boards that have taken up the topic, many women say the possibility of Y2K computer problems affecting hospitals has changed their minds about spending New Year's Eve in labor.

``I can just see me in the hospital giving birth on Jan. 1, 2000, when all the power goes out!'' one woman posted last month.

That thought unnerved Jennifer Nashif of Canton, Mich., enough that she and her husband, Peter, are waiting until May to try to conceive their third child.

``I tend to go overdue,'' says Nashif, 28. ``And I do not want to deliver on January first. I'm just a little concerned about what the Y2K computer bug might do to our utilities.''

For Roman Catholics, Pope John Paul II has declared 2000 a ``Jubilee year'' to focus on forgiveness, reconciliation, conversion and penance. Nashif, a Catholic, says she liked the idea of having a baby on Jan. 1, but ``the whole year's a Jubilee year.''

Tim Haddon, an Athens, Ga., computer technician, dissuaded his wife from having their second baby next winter because of the uncertainty he foresees with computer systems.

Liz Haddon, 22, who originally wanted a January baby, eventually agreed, in part because she thinks Y2K babies are a fad for many wanting ``the attraction of having their 15 minutes of fame.''

Not so, says Cameron House. She sees motherhood as the perfect way to open a new century, one she initially viewed as a frightening milepost in the passage of time.

``I was kind of worried about the whole thing. Then I thought, `Hey, this is the millennium, the first year, wow,''' she says. ``It will just be neat.''

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), March 07, 1999

Answers

Yea, it takes all kinds. Considering the recent report on the state of the health care industry, it's not something I would want to try, even if I could! <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 07, 1999.

I would be asking myself how would I feed, clothe, and care for my new born milliuem baby? No forethought, no planning, so carefree for just a moment of fame at delivery time December 31, 1999 at 11:59 p.m.

-- Realistic (Realistic@nodiapers.com), March 07, 1999.

Another possibility is to hold off a year. Wait for the rollover; if it's a bump in the road, go for the academic new millennium 01-01-01

-- Elbow Grease (Elbow_Grease@AutoShop.com), March 07, 1999.

F***ing idiots!

-- A (A@AisA.com), March 13, 1999.