Now we know what Torontonians did to stay warm last winter.

Nine months after an ice storm left thousands of residents in the dark for days, GTA hospitals are reporting a bit of a baby boom.

“When you have no power and there’s nothing on TV, what else are you going to do?,” new mom Nicole Pollock, who gave birth to her son on Monday, told CTV News.

The maternity ward at Lakeridge Health in Oshawa is currently full. Last Friday alone, 10 babies were delivered there.

“Parents are telling us they lost power for three to four days, sometimes longer, sometimes less. Most people didn’t want to leave their homes, so they used creative ways to keep warm,” said Deb Galet, Lakeridge Health director of women’s and children’s health care.

The GTA isn’t the only area seeing a surge in births this month.

At one Springfield, Missouri, hospital, OBGYNs delivered 83 babies in a single week earlier this month. In one 12-hour span, five babies were born.

"Two weeks ago was the busiest we’ve been in three months," said Dr. Julie Gibbons, an OBGYN at Mercy Hospital.

Gibbons has seen this sort of boom before. Like Toronto doctors, she’s crediting the harsh winter.

"If the harsh weather is keeping people inside, or say a power outage, then we tend to see a rush about nine months later," Gibbons said.

Doctors at Pemiscot Memorial Hospital in Hayti, Missouri, told KFVS12 that whenever there’s a weather event like an ice storm, they check the calendar nine months ahead to see when to expect the next baby boom.

"Natural disasters, something like that if it comes, nine to 10 months later we have more deliveries than previous months," Dr. Antonia Guzman said.



In North Texas, doctors saw a surge in births in July – 50 more than July of 2013 – about nine months after an ice storm hit.

Monica Sais, one of the women who gave birth nine months after the storm, told NBC Dallas Fort Worth that at least five of her friends were also pregnant – with due dates close to hers.

"It all makes sense. What else are you going to do when it’s cold outside? Snuggle up!" she said.

Have you noticed a baby boom in your social circle this September?