Great Mother's Day Story: Dr. Barrie May just reached maternity milestone--his 10,000th delivery at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center

He's delivered a baby every 36 hours for 43 years—shows no signs of slowing down.

Among Small Number Reaching US Maternity Milestone-1 Baby Every 36 hours for 43 years

LAGUNA HILLS, Calif., May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Barrie May, M.D., prominent Orange County obstetrician/gynecologist, just reached his landmark 10,000th delivery, among a small number of U.S. physicians laying claim to this milestone. That means every week for 43 years, average of five women had their babies delivered by Dr. May, or, on average, he's delivered a baby every 36 hours for 43 years. And he shows no signs of slowing down.

A statistics aficionado who keeps stacks of file cards in at home recounting every delivery, Dr. May describes the birth of each baby with emotion and joy, including the first. The thousands of women and families whose babies he delivered—including multiple generations—are joining hospital physicians, staff and Orange County's communities in celebrating at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center the 10,000th delivery, arriving just in time for Mother's Day—a baby girl (and Dr. May also delivered the newborn's sibling).

Dr. May has seen dramatic changes in childbirth. Father of three and grandfather of two (with another on the way), he was not allowed in the delivery room for the birth of his first child. Instead, like other anxious dads, he was relegated to the waiting room, a common practice 40 years ago. Says Dr. May, "decades ago it wasn't unusual for physicians to meet dads for the first time when moms were ready to deliver. Men didn't typically attend childbirth classes or other programs on how to care for newborns."

Those days are gone. "OB appointments and childbirth classes are now typically set by both parents' schedules," adds Dr. May, who served as chief of staff and on Saddleback Memorial's board of directors. "Fathers now participate fully in the childbirth, and many join classes on the basics of infant care."

When Dr. May arrived at Saddleback Memorial after it opened in 1974, there was a small maternity unit. In 1988, he helped open Saddleback Memorial Women's Hospital, South Orange County's only women's hospital. Today's entire birthing experience typically occurs in one of Saddleback's 24 private labor, delivery, recovery and post-partum (LDRP) suites where family and friends celebrate the birth in bright, airy surroundings.

This is a big change from when women shifted from room to room for each phase of childbirth and shared showers and bathrooms. Today, each self-contained LDRP suite has a state-of-the-art birthing bed that allows the mother to deliver in the position that is most comfortable, along with her own bathroom and shower. The Women's Hospital at Saddleback Memorial, which delivers about 3,000 babies each year, encourages parental involvement in all aspects of care. For the 10 percent of high-risk births and high-risk multiples referred to Saddleback Memorial from throughout the county and surrounding areas, there is also a neonatal intensive care unit, staffed by neonatologists and other specialized health professionals.

Dr. May daily is approached by countless grateful patients—whether a nursing student, mother of a nurse or patient delivered by his physician father-in-law, whose medical instruments appear in a display case in Dr. May's office. While on vacation in Italy, he once encountered his patients in three different villages.

"Our 3,500 employees, physicians and volunteers are all joining the countdown," says Steve Geidt, CEO of Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills and San Clemente. "Since more than 300 of Dr. May's deliveries were of twins or triplets, the number of babies he actually has delivered already tops 10,000. He is a remarkable human being and represents the best that our hospital has to offer."

Reaching his 10,000th delivery, Dr. May believes "it's about the patients, the babies and the support they've given me and hopefully that I've given them through the biggest miracle of their lifetime. I am honored to have been allowed to share in so many of these miracles." And when asked what will happen after the 10,000th delivery, Dr. May replies, "The 10,001 (which will likely occur sometime very soon)."

SOURCE Saddleback Memorial Medical Center