Year of the Dragon: Obstetrics and Gynecology reigns supreme once again.

Predictions suggest that many children will be born in the Year of the Dragon 2012.

According to Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Thong, Director of the Reproductive Health Care Center (Ho Chi Minh City): "The belief in choosing to have children in an 'auspicious year' is a tradition of East Asians, not just in Vietnam."

In years considered "unlucky," the number of women giving birth decreases significantly, and vice versa. Most recently, in the year of the Tiger (2010), many people avoided childbirth, so the number of births received by hospitals throughout Ho Chi Minh City was only over 90,000. In the year of the Rabbit, considered better, the number of births surged to 110,000. The year of the Dragon (2012) is considered very auspicious by folklore, and the number of births is expected to be much higher. In fact, many couples have been holding back, waiting for the year of the Dragon to have a child.

Similarly, according to Dr. Nguyen Van Truong, Director of Hung Vuong Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital (Ho Chi Minh City), in the year of the Tiger, the hospital only received over 30,000 births. In the year of the Rabbit, the number of new births by the beginning of November had already reached 38,000. "Our hospital has anticipated that in the year of the Dragon 2012, the number of women giving birth will be very high," Dr. Truong said.

Dr. Nguyen Hoang Tuan (Tu Du Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City) said: "Since the middle of the Year of the Rabbit, many couples have come to doctors' clinics and obstetric hospitals for advice on preparing for childbirth in the Year of the Dragon. Many couples who have been using IUDs for contraception have also come to the hospital to have their IUDs removed in preparation for conception and childbirth; couples having their first child are also eagerly 'hunting' for the dragon."

"To date, many women are already in their third or fourth month of pregnancy." Dr. Tuan believes that the tradition of having children in the Year of the Dragon is a reality that is difficult to force people to change, so hospitals must prepare mentally and professionally to meet that demand.

According to Thanh Nien newspaper