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Hurricane Sandy has sparked a 30per cent rise in births this summer at one New York maternity clinic.
More than 8.5 million homes and businesses experienced power outages last October as winds ripped across the east coast, and many couples were forced to entertain themselves at home.
As a result Linda Roberts, a nurse manager at an OB-GYN office in Westchester, told the New York Post that she and her colleagues are now preparing for a blackout baby boom.
We're having a Sandy baby: Tara Salzman and her husband Brian had no heating at their apartment during the storm - they are now expecting their fourth son
'We started noticing a couple of weeks ago that we were getting really busy with phone calls and lab results and charts. We were like, what is going on here?' she explained.
'And then all of a sudden, it dawned on me! This is right about the time when people would be coming in because they got pregnant during Hurricane Sandy.
'I looked at between July 15 and Aug. 15, which is when those people would be due, and sure enough, we have about a third more people delivering during that period than we usually have.'
Pregnancy rates post 9/11 soared, as they did after New York’s November 9 1965 blackout, but what is significant about Sandy is the length of time it took for areas to recover. Many homes were left without power for weeks.
Dr Jacques Moritz, director of the division of gynecology at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York said: 'In the past, there was a bump during 9/11, there have been bumps after blackouts and hurricanes.
'We didn’t have any heat, so it was freezing... and there was nothing else to do!'
'But Sandy went on for quite a while, and events that cause power outages really bring - how should I say this? - people closer together.
'In the tri-state area, you will probably see a little rise in people who were unable to get their birth control, and other issues like that.'
He said that his Midtown practice has also seen a spike in women due this summer and his patients tell him they are expecting a 'Sandy baby'.
Account executive Jennifer Adamo, 28, and her boyfriend spent two days in her Staten Island apartment while they sheltered from the storm.
With no television or internet they found other ways to occupy their time. In November during her annual gynecological visit Miss Adamo discovered she was six weeks pregnant.
Left in darkness: More than 8.5 million homes and businesses experienced blackouts last October as Sandy ripped across the east coast
When she counted back she realized that she had conceived during Sandy.
Miss Adamo, who is now four months pregnant with a baby girl,told the New York Post: 'Even though this baby is a surprise, it was such a great thing for our families after the devastation of the storm.'
Some couples, who still had power, took advantage of having time off work.
Brittany Jones,31, and her husband David spent time together watching movies at their Midtown apartment which was unaffected by the storm.
'Everything was closed, and we didn’t really know people here because we just moved, so we just hung out together. And we’d been trying off and on to have a baby anyway,' Mrs Jones recalled.
She found out she was pregnant shortly before Christmas, and like Miss Adamo she did the math and figured out she would be having a Sandy baby.
A lack of heating brought Tara Salzman, 34, closer to her husband Brian. The couple stayed at their house on Long Island while Mrs Salman's parents looked after their three sons.
'Sandy went on for quite a while, and events that cause power outages really bring people closer together'
She said: 'We had a generator, but we didn’t have any heat, so it was freezing... and there was nothing else to do! We wanted four children and, well... it was perfect timing.'
The couple are now expecting their fourth son.
Mother-of-two Jennifer Chiorello didn't find time for romance at first, as her husband works as a police lieutenant in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and he was inundated with calls.
However when he finally returned home they cosied up together in the darkness and her Sandy baby was conceived a week after Sandy struck.
'He worked 150 hours that week. So, the week after, just because of the stress of the two kids and worrying about him... well, that’s how baby three happened!,' she exclaimed.
Commenting on the baby boom phenomenon Manhattan maternity concierge Rosie Pope said that her eponymous TriBeCa store, located in the half of the city that lost power, has seen an rise in newly pregnant women.
However her store, located on the Upper East Side, which didn’t lose power, has been trading as usual.
'In New York City, the maternity world is certainly talking about it. I can tell there are a lot more pregnant people in the city,' she said.
The most famous baby boom in history followed World War II, which affected births on a world scale and approximately 78.3 million Americans were born during this time (1946-1964).
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