Summer Births

[Damelon]

I came across this article today:

Stork works overtime in summer

July 30, 2007
BY ANDREW HERRMANN Staff Reporter aherrmann@suntimes.com

Happy birthday -- to you and you and you over there, too.

According to experts, this is what might be considered the bubble of the birthday season. In the most current calculation available -- 2004 -- July was the month with the most births in the United States with 359,426, or about 8.7 percent of the annual total. Over a 10-year average, August comes in No. 1.

It helps that both months have 31 days. But so does January, and that month, in the baby birthing department, ranks a feeble 11th.

July and August can be explained, researchers say, by counting back nine months -- to November and December.

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas, indeed!

The mistletoe effect
Some experts who study what they call "seasonal variation in births" have theories based on biology and climate. Scientists using historical data have detected rhythms correlated to the amount of sunlight and temperatures but, as German researcher Jürgen Aschoff wrote, "With industrialization, people are increasingly shielded from both photoperiod [sunlight variations] by indoor work and temperature by heating and air conditioning."

Others point to the holidays -- call it the mistletoe effect -- as sparking increased sexual activity.

Writing in The Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, University of London sexual health professor Kaye Wellings and her colleagues noted the year end's "merry-making ... [is] associated with increased opportunities for socializing and a generally more hedonistic approach to life."

People tend to drink more during this time and "the link between drinking and unsafe sex . . . is well documented," Wellings said.

'Suspend hostilities'
Another British researcher, William H. James, added that married couples are likely to spend more time together during the holidays and estranged pairs may "suspend hostilities over the festive season 'for the sake of the children.'"

Dr. Jacqueline Bardwell of Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn confirms this can be a harried time for obstetricians.

"We are a lot busier in the summer," said Bardwell, who has been practicing obstetrics for 15 years.

"This time of year we are often full," she said of the center's 17 birthing rooms.

CAKES, GIFTS AND A BILLION CARDS
• An average of 700,000 birthdays occur each day.

• The most popular day of the week for births is Tuesday. The fewest occur on Sunday. The days may be influenced by doctors' scheduling Caesarean deliveries and inducements, according to federal health statisticians.

• Putting candles on birthday cakes may date back to the early Greeks, who, praying over the flames, believed that the smoke carried their thoughts up to the gods. Others think the custom originated in Germany, where celebrants put a large candle in the center of a cake to symbolize 'the light of life.'

• About 1.1 billion birthday cards are given each year, about 60 percent of the card industry. About 70 percent of the cards carry a personally inscribed message. Two-thirds of birthday cards are mailed.

• The average American gets four birthday gifts a year.

• Golden birthdays are when a person's age and birth date are the same: turning 31 on the 31st, for example.

• Some children, whose birthdays are diluted because they fall on major holidays, such as Dec. 25 or Jan. 1, celebrate half birthdays -- the halfway mark until their next birthday.

• Hallmark says it sells about 85,000 of its 100th-birthday cards a year and estimates there are 70,000 centenarians in the United States.

[Menolly]

*blushing*

Holiday season 1992 was very nice in the Wagner household...

...Beorn has a late August birthday, same date, although not year, as EL in fact...

[balon!]

I was born in June. Heh. What can I say? My parents LOVE the holidays.

[dlbpharmd]

*blushing*

Holiday season 1992 was very nice in the Wagner household...

...Beorn has a late August birthday, same date, although not year, as EL in fact...

What day in August?

[Cameraman Jenn]

But I was born in November, on the tenth, approximately NINE MONTHS after Valentine's Day. Is November a popular birthday month? That article talked about the statistical ranking but didn't list all twelve months.

[Menolly]

*blushing*

Holiday season 1992 was very nice in the Wagner household...

...Beorn has a late August birthday, same date, although not year, as EL in fact...

What day in August?

Very last day, the 31st.

Here in Florida, with a September 1st school cut-off date, Beorn has always been the tallest, yet youngest, in his classes.

[dlbpharmd]

HEY! That's my birthday too!

[Menolly]

No friggin' way!!!

You know there's no way I'll forget either your's or EL's now, right?

OK...if EL does make it to Gator Town in October, you have got to somehow find a reason to come with your wife and cubs for a birthday celebration the following August, Fenrir. Three Watchers with one birthday. We gots to commemorate it.

[dlbpharmd]

I'm sure I can find better ways to spend my birthday than in Gator Town. <hurls>

[Menolly]

Pheh.

Even for a home made coconut layer cake with coconut cream cheese frosting?

OK...so you finally got me back. That was mean. Have I ever put down Knoxville? I even said I want to come up to tailgate one day...

...guilt trip...

[[Syl]]

But I was born in November, on the tenth, approximately NINE MONTHS after Valentine's Day. Is November a popular birthday month? That article talked about the statistical ranking but didn't list all twelve months.

My son was born one day after you.

[dlbpharmd]

Even for a home made coconut layer cake with coconut cream cheese frosting?

Mmmmmmm........coconut........

[Menolly]

You're weakening...!

*singsong*
And it's a "from scratch" cake, not from a box mix...

[dlbpharmd]

No! NO! Vile temptress! I'll never go to Gator Town! NEVER!

[emotional leper]

No friggin' way!!!

You know there's no way I'll forget either your's or EL's now, right?

OK...if EL does make it to Gator Town in October, you have got to somehow find a reason to come with your wife and cubs for a birthday celebration the following August, Fenrir. Three Watchers with one birthday. We gots to commemorate it.

What, like the three of us pretend we're Haruchai and hack off some fingers?

[Edge]

The author of that article is very confused.

As everyone knows, July is the middle of winter.

[Menolly]

No! NO! Vile temptress! I'll never go to Gator Town! NEVER!

*more singsong*
I'll toss in a key lime pie...

What, like the three of us pretend we're Haruchai and hack off some fingers?

Oh l-rd...

EL, Beorn is going to love having you around.

What am I getting myself into?

The author of that article is very confused.

As everyone knows, July is the middle of winter.

That's the solution to my hatred of the heat. I need to live in Gator Town from mid-October to mid-March, and somewhere in the southern hemisphere the rest of the year...

[emotional leper]

I'm just reminding you. My Alignment really, truely is Lawful Evil (with tendancies towards True Chaotic). I'm givin' Raistlin Majere a run for his money.

[Menolly]

*nod*

Understood.

As long as you won't mind a clumsy 14 year old apprentice underfoot, we understand each other...

...and lawful evil is a lot better than the evil Hyperception did during his adolescence...

[emotional leper]

*nod*

Understood.

As long as you won't mind a clumsy 14 year old apprentice underfoot, we understand each other...

...and lawful evil is a lot better than the evil Hyperception did during his adolescence...

True I guess. I will spare someone's life. Provided, of course, they have previously spared mine. And it works only once.