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Many of Shanghai's mothers-to-be are anticipating an auspicious start in life for the children they bear in this Golden Year of the Pig.

 

But the birth itself probably won't be as easy as those occurring in years considered less lucky.

 

Shanghai hospitals will be overtaxed as 137,000 babies are expected to be born in this lunar cycle - which occurs only once every 60 years. The birth figure is 6,000 more than last year - the Year of the Dog - which was also believed to be an auspicious year.

 

As a result of this mini baby boom, city-level hospitals will be filled to capacity, and many mothers will have to give birth at less-desirable district level facilities. Mothers can also expect to have their hospital stays cut short by a few days to make way for those with new labor pains.

 

"Our design capacity allows us to provide delivery services for 450 mothers a month, but our work load is about 500 at present," said Duan Tao, vice president of Shanghai No. 1 Maternity and Child Health Hospital on Changle Road, one of the city's top three maternity facilities.

 

Beds are being borrowed and set up wherever there's space, he said.

 

"Normally, a woman is hospitalized for four to five days if she has a natural birth and a week for a cesarean birth," Duan said. "In order to make better use of our beds, we require our patients to leave hospital early. We've even set up a special team to provide stitch-removal services at new mothers' homes."

 

Duan admitted that the special procedures could present a slight risk of infection or other complications, but he said medical staff make discharge decisions only after reviewing each patient's condition.

 

The International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital in Xujiahui, another leading facility, is strictly controlling the number of new patients and shortening their stay by one day.

 

"Many women are willing to travel to city-level maternity hospitals. The restrictions will encourage them go to district-level facilities near where they live, which are competent for ordinary deliveries," said hospital Vice President Cheng Weiwei.

 

"We even turned a four-bed ward into a six-bed ward to handle more patients."

 

Some new mothers are turning to postnatal care facilities to make up for the shortened hospital stays.

 

"We provide wound care, psychological services, figure shaping for new mothers and care for the newborns, and we teach the families and ayis child-feeding and nursing skills," said Wang Yiliang, director of Xiyue Postnatal Hospital, a Taiwan-based facility in the city.

 

(Shanghai Daily March 19, 2007)