SINGAPORE – Ms Yvonne Lim gave birth to the first “dragon” baby in Singapore in 2024 – at 16 seconds past midnight on Feb 10.
For her, it was a bit of planning, but more of coincidence. Her daughter was due on Feb 16 but decided to come early.
Ms Lim, a 34-year-old content manager, checked in at Parkway East Hospital on the morning of Feb 9, the eve of Chinese New Year.
As the Chinese Year of the Dragon is considered auspicious, her obstetrician, Dr Heng Tung Lan, asked if she wanted a dragon baby. She replied: “Sure, why not? So long as it is safe for the baby.”
Her dilation was already about 7cm in the early afternoon, but Dr Heng was able to delay the birth till just after midnight. The doctor will not reveal how it was done, as she said it is a trade secret.
While Ms Lim had not planned to give birth at an auspicious time, other parents opt to do so. There are at least a couple of hundreds of such births – referred to as horoscopic births – every year, said people in the know who spoke to The Straits Times.
Horoscopic births usually happen in private hospitals and, only in certain cases, in some public hospitals.
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Singapore General Hospital said it does not accede to such requests.
Both KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH) and National University Hospital (NUH) said they discourage parents from requesting delivery date and time, but do oblige in a few cases.
Professor Arijit Biswas, a senior consultant in maternal foetal medicine at NUH, said such a request is allowed only if there is medical indication for the woman to give birth by caesarean section, and only if the requested time is after normal hours as it is almost impossible to plan for a specific delivery time during a busy work day.
The hospital imposes a surcharge on such requests, though the surgeon’s fee remains the same.
Prof Biswas said: “Horoscopic delivery, or delivery at a specific day and time, generally refers to a planned caesarean section delivery, since achieving a specific day and time is almost impossible in spontaneous vaginal birth.”
He said the hospital gets about 70 to 80 such requests a year – predominantly from Chinese and Indian parents – but accedes to only about 15 per cent to 20 per cent of them.
Professor Tan Hak Koon, who chairs the division of obstetrics and gynaecology at KKH, said the hospital does not “routinely offer elective caesarean deliveries for personal reasons” and there is a rigorous process for the few such requests it gets each year.
He added that there are risks to caesarean deliveries, such as bleeding, infection, injury to abdominal organs and anaesthesia-related complications. Such deliveries are “considered in instances where the pregnant women have medical needs to improve mother and child outcomes”.
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In the private sector, however, more doctors are willing to offer the service.
Dr Heng, who does about 10 horoscopic deliveries a month, said women do not need to opt for caesarean section in order to give birth on a chosen day.
About 30 per cent of the horoscopic cases she handles are vaginal births. It is more difficult to time these, but not impossible, she said.
Dr Heng also warns the parents that while she will try, she cannot guarantee that the child will be born at the requested time.
Dr Heng Tung Lan, who runs a clinic in Parkway East Medical Centre, does about 10 horoscopic deliveries a month. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
The other 70 per cent of the horoscopic cases are women who had to go for caesarean section for medical reasons and then decided to choose an auspicious delivery date.
Dr Heng noted that more women undergoing caesarean section are asking for horoscopic births.
She will ask the women to choose a few dates and times, and to decide on the actual day closer to the expected delivery date. As the auspicious timings in both Chinese and Indian beliefs are two-hour slots, there is some leeway for the doctors, she said.
Dr Heng once had a request for the baby, due by caesarean section, to be born at an exact time. She said she imposed a heavy surcharge, but did not want to disclose the amount. Dr Heng had the team standing by watching the clock and delivered the baby at the exact time requested.
Ms Sabina Ong, a nurse working in clinical safety and risk management, had her first child by emergency caesarean section. This usually means caesarean births for subsequent children.
Ms Ong and her realtor husband, Mr Xavier Chong, both 35, have consulted a fengshui master on a lucky birth date for their second child and have chosen March 8, between 9am and 11am.
She will be delivering her baby at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, which has introduced a surcharge – $2,888 for horoscopic birth during office hours, and $6,888 if it is after office hours – to discourage the practice as it has a high demand for operating theatres.
Ms Sabina Ong and her husband Xavier Chong have consulted a fengshui master on a lucky birth date for their second child. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
The couple also had to pay an extra $2,000 to the obstetrician, on top of the usual $23,000 fee, as well as the fee for the fengshui master.
“It’s worth it if it helps the baby,” said Ms Ong.
The couple, who are staunch believers in fengshui, had also consulted the fengshui master for their wedding, new home and even the collection of their new car.
Ms Ong’s obstetrician, Dr Chee Jing Jye, who has a clinic at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, has received nine requests for horoscopic births so far in 2024.
She said horoscopic births are no more difficult or dangerous than normal births, except “if the patient requests unearthly hours like 3am”.
Dr Chee said: “I usually will tell them to reconsider. The reason is the hospital staffing is skeletal at those times. If something goes awry, it will be difficult to get support.”
While most people who request horoscopic births are Chinese or Indian, she has had requests from Caucasian couples as well.
Like Dr Heng, the majority of horoscopic births handled by Dr Chee are via caesarean section, though she has also achieved this with vaginal births.
The most memorable case is a child delivered at 8.18am on Aug 1, 2018, or 8.18, 1-8-18.
The question obstetricians are asking now is: Will the Year of the Dragon bring more requests for horoscopic births?
Dr Heng said there will be more babies, but requests for such births will likely remain the same.
Prof Biswas said: “I do not think we will see a surge in such requests in this Dragon Year. Most parents are quite happy for their child to be born in the Dragon Year itself.”
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