Baby2K: The Contest Begins
You've heard of Y2K, but what about Baby2K? For thousands of couples worldwide, the contest is on to have the first baby of the new millennium. CBS News Chief European Correspondent Tom Fenton reports for CBS News Saturday Morning from Britain, where Baby2K fever is especially acute.
The countdown to conception has begun. For most couples hoping to be the first to hear a newborn's cry in the new millennium, now's the time.
Experts will tell you that if you really want to spend your New Year's Eve listening to the sounds of your newborn crying, then the best time to conceive is sometime between now and mid-April. April 10 is the hot favorite.
Obstetrician Mark Porter said, "It's difficult to come up with a hard figure because you've got to get the timing right, and because the baby's got to be born at exactly the normal gestation period, and of course a lot of babies come early and a lot come late."
Baby stores are piled high with everything from pregnancy testing kits to vitamins. They expect a bonanza.
Some predict that millennium births could be up by as much as 25 percent.
Maternity wards could be as jammed as nightclubs on New Year's Eve, and that means it may not be the best time to have a baby. Hospital staffs will be strained.
Moreover, there could be other problems when the clock strikes midnight and brings in the year 2000. Apparently, the millennium bug could affect vital baby-care equipment. Denise McEneaney, a maternity ward manager, says very small things may be affected, "like minor equipment failing but it's also looking at more major things--with utilities, with electricity failing."
In spite of all that, many are willing to risk the chaos in the hope that a "night-in" will spawn a small cuddly fortune. Sponsorship deals will be showered on the first baby born with the birthday 1/1/00.
"Certainly hundreds of thousands of dollars, possibly a million or two, depending on different factors, worth enough money to take care of that family for the rest of their livesÂ…" says publicist Max Clifford.
But deciding just which baby has hit the jackpot may not be easy. "How they're going to work out which is the first I don't know. We don't have stopwatches in maternity wards," says Dr. Rupert Fawdry.
While there's no shortage of advice on how to get in the mood and make it happen, there are no guarantees. Only five percent of babies are born on their due date.
Reported by Tom Fenton ©1999, CBS Worldwide Inc., All Rights Reserved