Win the Pregnant Office Pool for Me, Baby!

I feel bad not to have lurked for three years before posting to this board, so forgive me if I make a typo and end up breaking some convention punishable by death. However, with an office pool deadline looming, I need to tap this brain keg immediately.

What time of day is a baby most likely to arrive (that is, be born)? I have checked all about online, looked in Dr. Spock’s opus, asked many couples I know both expecting and post-partum. No one seems to know, and furthermore my friends’ experiences seem to show an even distribution, despite the tiny sample size.

Thanks in advance for your assistance
TTFN
Nep

Based on the concept that bad or inconvient things will indeed happen and since most people sleep during the night time hours. I believe that the most frequent time for a baby to be born would be between Midnight and 6 am. That way the parents have likely been awake all day and then have to go to the hospital on very little sleep and then get no sleep for the next several months.

Either that or it is a fairly even distribution. I however would go with the morning.

Here is why. Let us suppose that there is no particular time of the day that would cause a baby to be born more than any other time of the day. Then the distribution of naturally occuring babies would be fairly constant for all times of the day.

Then we look at those that are delivered by c-section or inducment. Doctors tend to schedule the deliveries of this type to be before noon. So, if we have a standard number at all times of the day and scheduled surgeries at a time between 9:00 and 12:00 noon, then the 9:00 - 12:00 time period would have a bit higher number of babies born at that time.

A better idea is do not put your money into an office pool and instead buy the mommy or the new tyke a present. Or be stingy and spend it on your self.

Jeffery

Good points, generally.

However, if the woman involved has a physician-induced labor or C-section, the pool switches to weight, so I was really looking for only natural birth info.

Does anyone have any other relevant facts?

Taking inspiration from the current mailbag question from “Chief Scott,” I’m going to try one more time to see if anyone here knows what time of day a baby is most likely to be born, and furthermore, what time of day a woman is most likely to go into labor.

'Course, the pool is over now, but this is KNOWLEDGE I’m searching for, not mere filthy lucre.

TTFN
Nep

I doubt it is just our imaginations that make us think childbirth happens in the middle of the night. Among horses, foaling happens almost exclusively at night. The mare is especially vulnerable to predators while giving birth, and it makes sense to give birth while the predators can’t see that she’s vulnerable. The same probably applies to people, even though modern humans are rarely at risk from predators.


Work is the curse of the drinking classes. (Oscar Wilde)

In fact there has been some interesting work on this topic in primates suggesting that there is a nocturnal switch from the usual near term contractures (Braxton-Hicks) to active contractions. This has been shown to occur fro 2-3 nights preceding actual labour and delivery. Of course this is just the start of labour, this does not mean that the baby will necessarily deliver overnight.
The authors of one of these works suggested an ontological benefit, in that most primates rest in places of relative safety overnight which would then be good places to labour and deliver. This is pure speculation of course.
The circadian rhythm changes noted above suggest a role of some hormone which is known to change with time of day, in the onset of labour. The most recent candidate is CRH. Research in this area is continuing.
If you are interested in the topic, Scientific American had an article on it last year entitled “The Timing of Birth” which was quite a good general summary. It does overstate the evidence in some places however.
As far as induced labour is concerned, ARM and synto is usually done in the morning which means that multis and twins will be delivered by afternoon/evening. Primips will take longer but if the ARM happens by 900AM, the latest they should be delivering will be 0200AM.
I personally never take bets on when babies will deliver or their weight either!

Every blood relative I have was born between 4 and 6 A.M. I don’tknow if that means anything.