Saskatchewan maternity wards bustling with babies

SASKATOON – After giving birth twice in the last three years, there is little doubt in Kelly Dash’s mind that Saskatchewan isn’t just in the midst of an economic boom; maternity wards across the province are bustling with babies.

“I ended up getting induced for both of my pregnancies and even just to get induced – there was a one to two to three day wait just to get called in for that part of it,” Dash told Global News.

On top of that, Dash said she spent hours in the assessment area. The doctor who delivered her baby had already delivered nine other bundles of joy in a span of just 12 hours.

“Things weren’t progressing for me, so I was getting ready to go into the OR just to have a c-section, but there were just more emergent cases that kept coming up. So they would say you’re next, you’re next,” she said.

“Eventually, I ended up just having the baby on my own because they couldn’t fit me into the OR.”

According to provincial data, in 2007 there were 13,453 babies born in Saskatchewan. In 2012, that number jumped to 15,037.

“We’ve been very busy. Over the last five years, we’ve increased our birth rate by 20 per cent,” said Leanne Smith, maternal services director at Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon.

While many suspect the strong economy is a key factor fueling the increase, Doug Elliott, publisher of Sask Trends Monitor believes otherwise.

“The number of births is simply the number of women in the right age group times their fertility rate. What’s been happening in the last five years or so is we’ve had a number of women in the right age group,” said Elliott.

Elliott says the “echo generation” – also known as kids of the last set of baby boomers – will likely continue giving birth at high rates for another five to 10 years. In another 25 years, he expects the province will have to be poised for yet another Saskaboom.