82nd back from Iraq - 'Oh, Babies!'

[unhappycamper]

82nd back from Iraq - 'Oh, Babies!'
November 17, 2008
International Herald Tribune

Joanne Chavonne saw pregnant women everywhere in town, shopping at Target for diapers or dining at a Mexican restaurant.

Then she heard that so many families were calling the medical clinic at nearby Fort Bragg for the results of pregnancy tests that the U.S. Army had to install an extra telephone line.

And finally, over the summer, an administrator told her that the hospital on base was overrun with women in labor and was delivering nearly 300 babies a month. "I was shocked," said Chavonne, whose husband, Anthony, is the local mayor. "That's 10 a day."

The entire 82nd Airborne division was deployed in Iraq during the surge in 2007. Nearly 22,000 Soldiers joyously reunited with their families when they began returning last October. The base is also host to 29,000 Soldiers from other units, which all contributed to what by August was an estimated 50 percent surge in births at Womack Army Medical Center, the base hospital, compared with the previous year.

The community is turning this into a celebration. On Saturday, about 1,000 recent mothers or mothers-to-be gathered as guests of honor at Boots & Booties, billed as the largest military shower ever. Under billboards with fuchsia butterflies at the Crown Exposition Center, pregnant women in stretchy pants and flip-flops drank red punch and helped themselves to deviled eggs and cupcakes. Sarah Deady arrived at the extravaganza right from her recovery bed - she had had a Caesarian section on Thursday and walked gingerly.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/82nd-back-from-iraq-oh-babies.html?col=1186032369115