How accurate are times on Birth Certificates?

Mike H. · #1 01-13-2009, 10:52 PM

Hi,

I'm relatively new here so I wasn't sure where to list this question so I just picked Greenhorn.

Since we're told the exact Birth Time is important in composing an accurate Natal Chart, I'd be interested in possibly hearing from nurses, doctors, midwives and/or mothers who have been there when babies are/were delivered.

In your opinion is the time listed on Birth Certificate generally close (estimated after the fact) or exact as when the child first drew breath?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Mike

NicholasH · #2 01-14-2009, 12:01 AM

im no mother or nurse, but i've done a lot of charts and it seems peoples birthtimes are always rounded to the 5 minutes(9:00, 6:15, 4:05, 3:55, etc..). according to my certificate i was born at 10:05pm. not 10:04 or 10:06.

Stacey5271 · #3 01-14-2009, 07:34 AM

I'm no doctor or nurse either, but I also feel like their must be a certain amount of rounding. Their first responsibility is to make sure that mom and baby are well. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised that they instinctively look at the clock when the birth happens, but that it's rounded in their minds if the clock is not digital (it can be hard to determine exactly which hash mark you're on if you're not close enough).

R4VEN · #4 01-14-2009, 10:24 AM

Yes, I agree, and the older a person is, the more `rounded' the time will be. My Mum always told me I was born at 4:20pm - but it may well have been 4:18, as no-one thought about astrology in them thar times. For my brothers birth times, she remembered 6am, or 7pm, which is an obvious round-about-almost.

A few years ago I was doing a natal chart for the daughter of a friend of mine. The time on the birth certificate was 3:58pm, which gave her an early in Capricorn ascendant. Capricorn?, thought I, she's too sociable and flighty for Cap ascendant. I quizzed the mother about accuracy, and she admitted that her daughter had probably actually been born a couple of minutes earlier - giving her a Sag ascendant, which was the girl to a T. So, even the times which look accurate can be a few minutes out, depending when nursing staff have a moment to record it.

wintersprite1 · #5 01-14-2009, 03:20 PM

Something to keep in mind, AM and PM are only a keystroke of difference. My birth certificate has me listed as 9:32PM. That would have given me a Cancer rising, which still seemed to "fit" since I have a Cancer Moon. My mother was insistent that I was an early morning birth. Applying logic to the quandary, She pointed out that I was a scheduled C section and she had not gone into labor, spent the previous night in the hospital and they schedule surgery in the mornings.

Instead of seeing which rising sign "fit", it became more evident it was a morning birth when working with progressions and solar arcs.

TK

RayAustin · #6 01-14-2009, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wintersprite1

Something to keep in mind, AM and PM are only a keystroke of difference. My birth certificate has me listed as 9:32PM.

True, and of course my birth-time is rounded to 8:45 ... Hmmm.. pretty suspicious.

natasa812 · #7 01-14-2009, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike H.

Since we're told the exact Birth Time is important in composing an accurate Natal Chart, I'd be interested in possibly hearing from nurses, doctors, midwives and/or mothers who have been there when babies are/were delivered.

In your opinion is the time listed on Birth Certificate generally close (estimated after the fact) or exact as when the child first drew breath?

Dear all,
I work for 7 years as translator now, translating many birth certificates (from many languages and from many contries - me and my cooleagues). People always need a birth certificate - for a merriedge, university, membership in some organization, so, we are talking about MANY birth certificates. I NEVER saw at least 1 with a time like 16:57 or 02:34. It is always 17:00 or 02:30. Always adjusted to look EXACT (I think it must be a Virgo making this mess).
So, my opinion is that it is always estimated to look EXACT but it is not!
Natasa

Astrologer4U · #8 01-14-2009, 04:15 PM

Hmm, interesting, according to my birth certificate, I was born at 4:06pm and my daughter was born at 9:42am. I don't see any rounding in those two. I think there are some things to take into consideration however, when a person does not seem to match his or hers rising sign. I know someone who is a Gemini rising, but he is really shy and does not seem to talk much. However, he does have his times when he is playing jokes on people, and his times for goofing around like a Gemini rising. Still, he is not very sociable. I attribute that to his Moon is Scorpio.

Astrologer4U

AquariusT · #9 01-14-2009, 07:10 PM

These days they are very accurate. The older people sometimes they are way off. It used to be that the nurse would clean the baby, take care of the mother, write up the paperwork and write the time down, what it was then, at that time!. I was told this by a nurse in the 80's and found many clients birthtimes were way off.

I think today people care more about accuracy.

iwonder · #10 01-14-2009, 07:59 PM

I don't have time on my birth certificate, neither do any of my kids (born in US, but in different states). Do you have to order a special birth certificate? The ones issued by default don't list birth time.

freedomlover · #11 01-14-2009, 08:18 PM

I have a comment and a couple questions on this subject:

The comment: I was born in 1965 in USA - birthtime on birth certificate is 9:32am - another friend I know, born in 1961 in USA is listed as a 9:12am birth - so I don't think "rounding off' is as common in some areas as others. My daugters were born in 1983 and 1989 - and birth times are 9:32am and 10:33pm. My mother was born in 1936, and hers was listed as 7:10am, and it could have been rounded, but, hey, some people will be born at the 5 degree intervals exactly. My grandfather, born in 1900, in the same area as my mother, has no birth time on his birth certificate.

First question: so, bearing that in mind, I wonder if there is a rhyme or reason to which areas do round off the birth times? - for according to this thread, many have obviously experienced this.

Second question: Outside of astrology, what is the reason that it is important that the actual time of birth is noted? What other applications does it have?

FL

Kaiousei no Senshi · #12 01-14-2009, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Second question: What reason, outside of astrology,why is it important that the actual time of birth is noted? What other applications does it have?

I wouldn't think there was, which is why the grand majority of birth certificates don't have them, but I do wonder who came up with the idea to have it listed or considered at all.

freedomlover · #13 01-14-2009, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Second question: What reason, outside of astrology,why is it important that the actual time of birth is noted? What other applications does it have?

I wouldn't think there was, which is why the grand majority of birth certificates don't have them, but I do wonder who came up with the idea to have it listed or considered at all.

(Sorry for the bad grammar - didn't realize how bad that had come out till you quoted me.

)

So, is astrology the reason birth times began to be put on birth certificates?
It seems to me that I read somewhere that, at one time, physicians were required to know astrology. Does anyone have any more information on this?

Kaiousei no Senshi · #14 01-14-2009, 09:10 PM

Well, yes. They were required to learn astrology, but that was WAY back in the day. I don't think astrology was the reason they put the times on the birth certificates. I mean, I'm only 19 and my birthtime isn't on my cert (even though I thought it was), I just know it from my mom telling me and letting me stay up that late all those years when I was younger.

R4VEN · #15 01-14-2009, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaiousei no Senshi

I wouldn't think there was, which is why the grand majority of birth certificates don't have them, but I do wonder who came up with the idea to have it listed or considered at all.

Jolly good question, Kaiousei!!!

My ex-husband was born in Austria in 1944, and has a time (obviously rounded to the half-hour) on his Birth Cert. Mine, my siblings and my children's birth certificates do not have times on them.

Given that, in order to get my brother's birth time (he was born in 1957) I asked my mother, who at that time was sinking into Alzheimer's. After listening to her describing what she and my father had for lunch that day in December `57, before getting distracted, I then had to figure out my brother's birth time from her information (i.e. he could not have been born before 2:30pm) and my memory of my father coming home at 8pm or so left me with a window of possibility - given allowing for my father's traveling time to get home. Using the ascendant as a guide, I was left with 2 possibilities - Gemini or Taurus. Definitely Taurus - quiet, dependable, solid in body, family-oriented, etc, etc. And because I know my brother well, getting a reasonably accurate time was possible.