The Snowvember storm stranded many residents living South and East of downtown Buffalo at home for days last year. Despite what they may have told you, they apparently didn't spend all of their time shoveling. Officials at Mercy Hospital say nine months have passed and they are now experiencing a baby boomlet.
Mercy Hospital Vice President of the Women's Services Line Aimee Gomlak says the hospital has been experiencing an increase in births recently, noting the hospital was "pretty prepared for this because we've experienced these little blips with past storms. So, we handled it with extra staff being cross trained and more equipment and cribs being available."
Gomlak notes they saw a similar increase during the October surprise storm in 2006, although she adds, the increase in births related to the Snowvember storm seems to be a little more legitimate.
Gomlak says there has been "a steady increase, the last three years, in births in Western New York." She says, "All the birthing hospitals track that. So there had been a steady decline since 2007 in births, but three years over there have been more births than the previous year by about 300 or 400 births."
Mercy Hospital has released a statement indicating they've had three days in the last two weeks where the hospital has recorded between 14 and 16 births, noting the average is about six babies per day. The statement indicates the hospital is expecting a 25-to-30-percent increase in deliveries through August and early September.
The spike comes nine months after the Snowvember storm dumped as much as seven feet of snow in some areas south and east of downtown Buffalo, including South Buffalo where Mercy is located.
