Big Storm Causes Baby Boom At PMC

The wind and rain on Wednesday may have caused a lot of damage, but it had a whole different effect on expecting mothers.

Portneuf Medical Center was flooded with babies Wednesday afternoon, and on Thursday, there was hardly an empty bed in the labor unit.

Krew Hampton came into the world at around 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday. He was 6 pounds, 15 ounces and a complete surprise to his mom and dad, Nicolette and Jason Hampton.

“Well technically, I’m not due for two more weeks, and my water broke around 1:30 this morning and I thought, ‘All right, we’ll just see how it goes,'” Hampton said.

She started having contractions and knew it was time. Jason brought her to Portneuf Medical Center, and Krew was born in about two hours. Hampton didn’t mind the early delivery.

“I was excited, because the end of a pregnancy’s very tiring,” she said.

It was tiring for the staff, too. Roxann Jackson has been a nurse at the hospital for eight years.

“It was crazy. I got a text actually from someone yesterday, they said, ‘It was crazy!'” Jackson said.

But Krew wasn’t the only baby born on Wednesday. Typically the unit has about 8 to 10 babies born every day. On Wednesday, it saw 15 births, with more on the way.

Jackson and the rest of the nurses said the wind blew them in.

“Yeah, weather does play a part in it, sometimes. We think it does anyway,” Jackson said.

A study from the University of Massachusetts Medical School showed there is a statistically significant association between falling barometric pressure and the onset of labor. The study said it was not clinically significant, but it definitely meant something to the Hamptons.

“I don’t know if (the weather) did (cause all of the births), but it worked for me, so, here we are. And I’m happy about it,” Hampton said.

The family has another 4-year-old son, Kanon, and Nicolette and Jason are looking forward to raising the boys together.