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Was The COVID Baby Boom Just Delayed? One Tarrant County Hospital Saw Births Surge Twice In June.

babies in hospital bassinets.
Baylor Scott & White Health
Among the group, boy names Atlas and Daniel were popular. Six of the baby girls were named Gianna, and Reign was also a popular name for girls, according to the hospital.

Maybe the pandemic baby boom people projected didn't go bust after all.

Andrews Women’s Hospital at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth broke delivery records twice in recent weeks.

Starting on Thursday, June 24, there were 52 babies were delivered in 47 hours, and starting on Monday, June 28, there were another 55 babies born in the span of 44 hours. That breaks hospital's previous record set in 2018, when they delivered 48 babies in the span of 48 hours.

Michelle Stenley, the hospital’s director of nursing, said they expected to see an uptick in births earlier than late June.

“We were actually thinking we may see a baby boom, nine months into the quarantine. We were thinking maybe in December, January, we may see a little boom, but it didn't happen. And then sure enough, here it is," Stenley said. "We're thinking that maybe people just felt more comfortable after a few months in the quarantine to start having babies again.” Stenley said.

With the facility overwhelmed with expecting mothers, the staff at Andrews Women’s Hospital had to get creative to accommodate everyone.

“We turned over quickly down in labor and delivery and got our moms upstairs to our postpartum floor as quickly as we could, so that we could make room for more," Stenley said. "We had staff who were agreeing to come in and work extra because we needed more nurses on the floor.”

The mothers, however, were thoroughly impressed by the efficiency. Courtney Stanley delivered her third child, Stella, amid the baby boom on June 25. Stanley's had all three children at the hospital and said she had a faster birth than she’s used to.

“It was 39 minutes from our driveway till when she was born," Stanley saidhen I got to the hospital, I was having contractions. About 10 minutes later, my water broke.

They didn't have any labor and delivery rooms available when she got to the hospital.

"We went into this prep room, and within 5 minutes, I was holding my baby..." Stanley said. "It was so crazy, but so amazing.”

The hospital averages about 16 births a day, and delivered about 6,000 babies in 2020.

Got a tip? Email Haya Panjwani at hpanjwani@kera.org. Follow Haya on Twitter @hayapanjw.

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Haya Panjwani is a general assignment reporter for KUT. She also served as a legislative fellow for The Texas Newsroom during the 2021 legislative session.