9/11 babies

Five Years Later: Diane Sawyer with many of the children who lost their dads on 9/11. Some children never got the opportunity to get to know their fathers.
(Donna Svennvik/ABC) 2005

8 years later, here in New York City, we still remember. One of the most lasting legacies of the terrorist attacks was the number of babies born to mothers who lost their partner in the attacks. I read this excellent piece in the Guardian profiling one family where the mom was 7 months pregnant on 9/11/01 and now raising a 7 year old son. There are many cases where the mothers didn't even know they were pregnant on 9/11.

Even though a baby boom 9 months later was debunked by the fantastic Snopes.com, there sure were a lot of babies born that summer. The first memorial service was crowded with grieving families with gorgeous infants. Now there are some great charities set up to help those children. Jay-Z is even doing a benefit concert tonight.

Even now, a 9/11 birthday is not the most desirable. I remember last year my doctor carefully placing my due date on 9/10 (or sometimes 9/12) but never 9/11. Which of course is funny since a babies birth is just about the most perfect opposite of the pointless death and destruction the date conjures.

One of my daughter's friends turns one today (Happy birthday Hiro!!!) and I hope as he grows older the day may take on a less tragic, more hopeful, meaning.