The average daily number of births recorded at Brooklyn’s Maimonides Medical Center is still climbing. Though the hospital has not sustained the peak rates it hit in two days in April, when deliveries spiked to a record 74, it is still bursting with babies. Officially the unit is meant to handle no more than 60 patients at a time.

Last month, a total of 674 babies were delivered in the hospital. That compares with 633 births at the hospital in May 2008, for a gain of 6%. The hospital, located in central Brooklyn, serves a thriving young orthodox Jewish community, in which families with 10 and 12 children are not uncommon.

Other factors also contributed to the trend: From 2001 to the present, the borough of Brooklyn lost 41 of its 418 obstetrical beds, giving it a current total of 377. If nearby Long Island College Hospital closes its maternity ward, as its parent corporation Continuum Health Partners has threatened to do to save money, that would trigger the loss of another 38 beds—slashing the total to 339. “There are fewer places to accommodate the same number of deliveries,” says a Maimonides spokeswoman.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn women are having as many babies as ever, about 28,500 annually from 2001 through 2007, according to the most recent numbers from the state Department of Health. Maimonides is building a larger obstetrical unit.

(Source: Crains New York / YWN-141)