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Birthing frenzy not seen as few knew of the designer date

MUMBAI: The designer date of 11.12.13 naturally came with its share of new baby arrivals. While some deliveries were planned, most weren't, given that this date did not evoke the excitement of palindrome sequences such as 11.11.11 or 12.12.12.

In terms of patient volume, the chorus of bawling babies from Sion Hospital's maternity ward routinely beats the rest. "By 8.30pm, we had 27 deliveries, of which 16 were normal while 11 were by Caesarean section," said Dr Niranjan Chavan. "We routinely deliver around 30 babies a day. In fact, we will soon mark our 13,000th child later this year so that will be a record of sorts," said Dr Y S Nandanwar, head of obstetrics and gynaecology, Sion Hospital.

"Unlike 11.11.11 and 12.12.12, though, few parents seemed to have been aware of 11.12.13 or planned their deliveries for this date," said Dr Chavan. "There was no fuss in the maternity ward. Last year, I remember having uploaded pictures of children born on 12.12.12 and they got 500 likes on YouTube."

At Lilavati Hospital in Bandra, Dr Nandita Palshetkar presided over two emergencies and one normal birth. The doctor seems to lead by example, for her own son was born on 8.8.88. On 11.12.13, the lucky parents were Rajesh Jaiswal who works with an automobile firm and his wife Ranu Bhagat, a software engineer. Little Yudi, short for Yudhishthir, became their firstborn when he arrived at 8.58am. An excited Rajesh said, "He was due on December 18-19 but a minor complication led to a Caesarean section on 11.12.13. My own profession involves number-crunching and data analyses, so it makes me doubly happy to see the perfect sequence of his unique birthdate. I will plan a small function to mark these magical numbers once we get home."

Some were aware of the date in Kalyan and Navi Mumbai as well. At Venkatesh Hospital in Kalyan, Dr Rajan Vaidya conducted a "painless normal delivery" for Deepali Sawant by administering spinal anaesthesia. Her husband Yogesh, who runs an ad agency, perked up when he learnt his son had started his innings on a special day.

Koparkhairane's Sai Snehdeep Hospital saw the birth of one boy and two girls. "None were premature, they were all past 37 weeks and healthy," said Dr Ruchika Sood. For Priyanka and Narasingh Kharatmol, the day became extra special as their second child, a baby girl, was born at 11.12am. Shilpa and Sudhir Nair had their baby girl at 10.13am. "Everyone kept talking to us about this date and we are so happy," they said. Vedic astrologer Jay Panicker said babies born on 11.12.13 will have a long life.