BATON ROUGE - Hospitals in Baton Rouge are expecting delivery rooms to fill up in 2021.

Doctors say the uptick can point back to 2020's stay-at-home orders beginning close to nine months ago.

Dr. Candace Moore, an OBGYN at Baton Rouge General, says, "Starting in January, which of course would be nine months after the stay-at-home order was initiated, we’re seeing an uptick of at least 10 to 20 percent per month in our expected births."

Hospital officials at Women's say they'll deliver about 15 newborns today and plan to see 200 more births total in the next three months. That number is an increase from their usual between 650 to 780 deliveries monthly. 

Doctors at Ochsner say they saw a rise in o.b. appointments this summer following quarantine and expect to see a sharp rise in deliveries in the first quarter of 2021.

Dr. Candace Moore says there's a few possible reasons for the pregnancy uptick.

"I always say it's a little bit better than a hurricane because when you stay at home, you're bored,

but at least this way you have air conditioning. People tend to turn to one another in crisis or exciting moments and this is one of the ways they do that. And the next thing you know, we’re very busy at work."

Doctors say nationwide, there is a three to 10% increase in expecting mothers.