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Around the country, some superstitious mothers-to-be took steps Tuesday to make sure their babies were not born on the most bedeviling of dates, 6-6-6.
In New York, "people are canceling left and right because of what today represents," said Liza Washington, an administrative assistant at Children's Hospital of the New York-Presbyterian Medical Center. More than a dozen deliveries were postponed because of 666, which is said to be the "Number of the Beast" in the Book of Revelation.
Many of the expectant mothers had been scheduled to deliver babies by Caesarean section or after doctors artificially induced labor.
Julie Haley, 33, of Reading, Mass., went into labor Monday. As of Tuesday afternoon, she still had not given birth.
"We were going to try to get it out before midnight or I was going to keep my legs closed," she said. "I don't want her to have that stigma for the rest of her life. When she gets older, her friends would say that anything bad would be because of her birthdate."
Pierce, who works at two Chicago-area hospitals, said he and his colleagues canceled any deliveries scheduled for Tuesday. But he added, "I'll do nothing that is ethically not indicated."
Pierce said that in general, about 25 percent of all births involve C-sections whose timing can be controlled "give or take a day." And about 30 percent of births are natural, but labor is artificially induced, allowing the timing to be controlled as well.
A woman suddenly realized that her delivery date was June 6, and asked her doctor to delay the birth, said Dr. James Whiddon of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Wichita Clinic, Kansas.
(Agencies)
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美国一些迷信的准妈妈们在周二这一天纷纷采取行动，以确保她们的孩子不会在2006年6月6日--这个最为丧气的日子出生。
纽约长老会医疗中心儿童医院的行政助理莉莎·华盛顿说，在纽约，“由于这个日子的特殊含义，人们都将6号左右的分娩计划给取消了。”就因为“666”这个日子，十多个产妇推迟分娩。据说，666在《启示录》中是“魔鬼（反对上帝的兽）的数字”。
很多孕妇计划剖腹生产或在医生的人工引产下生产。
马萨诸塞州里丁镇33岁的茱丽·哈雷周一就进入了阵痛期，可直到周二下午，她还没有分娩。
茱丽说：“我们想在午夜前把她生出来，否则我干脆夹紧双腿，不生了。我不想让孩子的一生带着这样一个‘标志’，等她长大后，她的朋友们会说她所有的不顺都是因为她的出生日期。”
同时在两家芝加哥地区医院工作的皮尔斯说，他和同事们将原定于周二的分娩都给取消了。但是他补充道：“我不会做任何有悖于道德的事。”
皮尔斯说，总体来看，约25％的分娩通过剖腹生产，所以，时间上可以控制，“迟一天或早一天”没有大碍。约30％的分娩是自然生产，但是需要人工引产，这样，时间上就同样可以控制了。
堪萨斯州威奇托医疗中心妇产科的詹姆斯·维登医生说，一位妇女突然意识到自己的预产期是6月6日，于是，她要求医生将她的分娩期推后。
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