Chicagoland hospitals reported a spike in the number of babies born this month — roughly nine months after the Chicago Cubs baseball team won the 2016 World Series, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Physicians at Chicago-based Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center told the Chicago Tribune they've noticed an increase in the number of deliveries, and expect the trend to continue through August. Officials said the trend peaked between July 10 and July 18, when the hospital witnessed almost double the amount of delivers each day than average, the report states.
Melissa H. Dennis, MD, an OB-GYN physician at AIMMC, said while she can't scientifically prove the Cubs' World Series connection to the increase in births, she said those babies' due dates "could have easily fallen on July 26 — exactly 38 weeks after Game 7," according to the report.
However, despite patients' anecdotes about their babies' World Series ties, Jessica W. Kiley, MD, chief of general obstetrics and gynecology and assistant professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Chicago-based Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said the labor and delivery units of the university's affiliated hospital — Chicago-based Northwestern Memorial HealthCare — almost always sees an increase in the number of births during the summer months.
"Anecdotally, we've had fun families that mentioned they think they conceived around the time of the victory," Dr. Kiley told the Chicago Tribune. "That's fun for families here. But whether there's truth scientifically? I certainly can't comment."