Sunday December 26 2:35 PM ET Millennium Baby Race Peters Out By PHIL GALEWITZ AP Business Writer

Radio stations held contests. Hospitals offered glitzy prizes. Bookmakers gave odds.

But the allure of giving birth at the dawn of the new millennium has failed to spark much of a baby boom.

Around the world, many large hospitals say they are seeing no significant increase in women scheduled to go into labor on New Year's Day. And those hospitals that are seeing a slight rise say they can't know for sure if the millennium craze is the cause.

``I was expecting to see a lot of activity regarding the millennium but I'm not seeing it in my practice,'' said Dr. Sabastian Faro, chairman of obstetrics at Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago. He said the lack of extra births shows the inherent difficulty in trying to get pregnant on demand.

Doctors in Sweden and Croatia report the same thing.

``It's an ordinary New Year's Eve,'' said Dr. Anders Berg, head of the gynecology at Danderyds Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden.

Couples looking to give birth at the start of the millennium would have had to conceive around the end of March or first week in April.

At that time, from Malaysia to Norway, from Spain to the United States, radio stations held first-baby-of-2000 contests, and couples were offered some private time together, romantic hotel getaways and aphrodisiacs ranging from a traditional Malaysian potion to a Barry White CD.

And though most hospitals say they expect an average number of births, there are exceptions.

Doctors at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine, are expecting 38 percent more births in December, and 30 percent more in January.

At Dr. Cha's Clinic in Seoul, South Korea, about 350 women are expected to give birth in the week surrounding New Year's Day, a 15 percent jump from last year.

One of them is Chung Jong-hwa, 36, who is due Jan 2.

``Once we decided to have a new baby, we said, 'Why not a millennium baby?''' Jong-hwa said of her discussion with her husband. ``We tried very hard last March to conceive. ... Having a new baby on Jan. 1 will be a great beginning for the new millennium.''

Couples hoping to have a millennium baby won't necessarily get any special assistance from their doctor or hospital. That's because they likely will refuse to induce labor unless it is medically necessary.

The American College of Obstetrics/Gynecology said it would be unethical for doctors to induce pregnancy solely for the purpose of giving birth on New Year's Day. One reason is that using drugs to induce pregnancy can increase the risk that the woman will need a Caesarean section.

``Inducing labor to meet some arbitrary millennial timeline is frivolous and certainly would not be considered a valid indication to preserve the mother's and newborn's health,'' said Dr. Charles Lockwood, of New York, an official with the college.

In Thailand, health officials have warned doctors they could end up in jail if they perform Caesarean operations to time baby births with the onset of the new millennium.

``Doctors should not do so even though they might be pressured from parents-to-be,'' said Health Ministry Deputy Permanent Secretary Supachai Khunaratanaphreuk.

Hospital officials said they are generally pleased not to have extra births around New Year's Day because they will already be on alert due to concerns about the Y2K computer bug.

And doctors never liked the idea of couples trying for a millennium baby.

``It's not a great idea to bring a child in the world just because you think it would be special to do it on the millennium,'' said Dr. John Gianopolous, chairman of obstetrics-gynecology at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago.

Most hospitals celebrate the first baby of the year with a gift basket of donated baby items. But with the approach of 2000, some organizations began offering larger gift packages including savings bonds and limousine rides.

The Minnesota Twins are promising baseball perks, including lifetime season tickets, to the first set of twins born in 2000 at any one of seven Minnesota hospitals. The first set of twins also will receive Minnesota Twins memorabilia and visits from Twins players.

In Britain, bookmaking firm William Hill said dozens of pregnant women are staking bets that they will give birth on Jan. 1. One, ,,,,,,,

snip

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/19991226/us/millennium_baby_1.html

-- LOON (blooney10@aol.com), December 26, 1999

Answers

My crazy, completely idealistic wish for the world is that couples only have babies for one reason and one reason only: that they want a child to love. Period. Not to save the marriage (HAH!), or have the first baby of the new year/millenium, or to give the first kid a sibling, or to keep up with the Joneses, or to prove they can, or to stay home from work for five more years, or just "because", or..................

Second part of wish: no couple has more than two kids. YEAH, that's gonna happen!

Happy Mother of One Beautiful Child

-- preparing (preparing@home.com), December 26, 1999.