Paying more attention to barometric pressure than ever before...

On Sunday, a friend told me that a cold front put her in labor (spontaneous rupture of membranes) 7 weeks early with her first child. When she went into the hospital, the labor and delivery area was full. Then today, another friend told me that a cold front put her into labor, too! Coincidence? Believe it or not, a study out of Japan found significant association between the barometric pressure and women going into labor; here are the results and conclusions of the study:

Results There was a significant increase in the number of deliveries and rupture of the membranes at low barometric pressure although there was no significant correlation between onset of labor and barometric pressure. This tendency was noted in both women with spontaneous rupture of the fetal membranes and those with premature rupture of the membranes. On days with a larger change in barometric pressure, regardless of whether it was increasing or decreasing, the number of deliveries increased and the relationship was statistically significant.

Conclusions A causal relationship was noted between the number of rupture of the fetal membranes, delivery and barometric pressure, suggesting that low barometric pressure induces rupture of the fetal membranes and delivery.

I'm 38 weeks pregnant, large and extremely uncomfortable, and suspicious that I'm growing another big baby inside (dd2 weighed over 9.5 lbs at birth). So, with eastern Colorado expecting rain/snow/freezing rain over the next day or so, is it any wonder that I'm constantly checking the barometric pressure? I would very much like to go into labor now rather than in 2 weeks or more!