In this photo provided by 20th Century Fox, Damien (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) keeps a watchful eye on the evil stemming from his emergence as the Anti-Christ in the upcoming film 'The Omen.' Around the country, some superstitious mothers-to-be took steps Tuesday to make sure their babies were not born on the most bedeviling of dates, 6-6-6. In New York, "people are canceling left and right because of what today represents," said Liza Washington, an administrative assistant at Children's Hospital of the New York-Presbyterian Medical Center. More than a dozen deliveries were postponed because of 666, which is said to be the "Number of the Beast" in the Book of Revelation. Many of the expectant mothers had been scheduled to deliver babies by Caesarean section or after doctors artificially induced labor. Julie Haley, 33, of Reading, Mass., went into labor Monday. As of Tuesday afternoon, she still had not given birth. "We were going to try to get it out before midnight or I was going to keep my legs closed," she said. "I don't want her to have that stigma for the rest of her life. When she gets older, her friends would say that anything bad would be because of her birthdate." Pierce, who works at two Chicago-area hospitals, said he and his colleagues canceled any deliveries scheduled for Tuesday. But he added, "I'll do nothing that is ethically not indicated." Pierce said that in general, about 25 percent of all births involve C-sections whose timing can be controlled "give or take a day." And about 30 percent of births are natural, but labor is artificially induced, allowing the timing to be controlled as well. A woman suddenly realized that her delivery date was June 6, and asked her doctor to delay the birth, said Dr. James Whiddon of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Wichita Clinic, Kansas. (Agencies)

美國一些迷信的準媽媽們在周二這一天紛紛采取行動，以確保她們的孩子不會在2006年6月6日--這個最為喪氣的日子出生。 紐約長老會醫(yī)療中心兒童醫(yī)院的行政助理莉莎·華盛頓說，在紐約，“由于這個日子的特殊含義，人們都將6號左右的分娩計劃給取消了。”就因為“666”這個日子，十多個產(chǎn)婦推遲分娩。據(jù)說，666在《啟示錄》中是“魔鬼（反對上帝的獸）的數(shù)字”。 很多孕婦計劃剖腹生產(chǎn)或在醫(yī)生的人工引產(chǎn)下生產(chǎn)。 馬薩諸塞州里丁鎮(zhèn)33歲的茱麗·哈雷周一就進入了陣痛期，可直到周二下午，她還沒有分娩。 茱麗說：“我們想在午夜前把她生出來，否則我干脆夾緊雙腿，不生了。我不想讓孩子的一生帶著這樣一個‘標志’，等她長大后，她的朋友們會說她所有的不順都是因為她的出生日期。” 同時在兩家芝加哥地區(qū)醫(yī)院工作的皮爾斯說，他和同事們將原定于周二的分娩都給取消了。但是他補充道：“我不會做任何有悖于道德的事?！? 皮爾斯說，總體來看，約25％的分娩通過剖腹生產(chǎn)，所以，時間上可以控制，“遲一天或早一天”沒有大礙。約30％的分娩是自然生產(chǎn)，但是需要人工引產(chǎn)，這樣，時間上就同樣可以控制了。 堪薩斯州威奇托醫(yī)療中心婦產(chǎn)科的詹姆斯·維登醫(yī)生說，一位婦女突然意識到自己的預(yù)產(chǎn)期是6月6日，于是，她要求醫(yī)生將她的分娩期推后。 (英語點津姍姍編輯)