Canes' baby boom conceived in victory

Christy Karmanos, wife of the Carolina Hurricanes' vice president and assistant general manager, shared her news with other team wives gathered for the season's first get-together:

"I'm pregnant," she said.

Karmanos wasn't the only one with a burgeoning tummy. Nine months after the Hurricanes took home the Stanley Cup in June, the team has a bit of a baby boom.

Four other Hurricanes couples are expecting babies in the next four months. All but one, Katie Tanabe, and husband, defenseman David Tanabe, were part of the team last season. Tanabe is due in May.

Karmanos told her fellow Canes wives in September during a get-to-know-you party game. When she delivered her news, eyes widened. Mouths gaped.

"Then they were looking at me and looking at my stomach and they said, 'You are!' " remembered Karmanos, the mother of two girls. She and husband, Jason Karmanos, are expecting their third in April.

The other expecting couples:

Jennifer Daniels and husband, assistant coach Jeff, are due in June.

Anne Adams and husband, right wing Craig, expect a baby July 24. And so do Stacey and former Cane Kevyn Adams, who was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes in January.

Anne Adams, the only one expecting her first child, said she has heard the inevitable jokes about how much fun they must have had celebrating the Cup win.

"Everyone's like, 'Is there something in the water?' " she said. "Everyone was partying this summer. ... It just seemed like good timing. Craig signed a new contract. We had the greatest summer of our lives. Maybe it's now time to start trying."

Sharing it with a group of women she's already close friends with makes her experience as a first-time mom even better, Adams said. "We just have great people here."

The five were feted this week at a shower and fundraiser at the new Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary. The party was the idea of Angela Sikes Krause, owner of the children's boutique Dilly Dally in North Raleigh, and Robyn Mangrum, publisher and owner of Mangrum Publishing, which produces Premier Baby & Child and Weddings Magazine.

About 30 women supped on seared mini Kobe burgers with sweet onion jam or curry chicken and golden raisin salad profiterole. There was a harpist.

Orchids hung from pale green umbrellas. Blue hydrangeas and yellow roses adorned the tables. The women took home goodie bags with bath salts, a leather photo album and other treats.

Almost everything was donated for the shower, which doubled as a fundraiser for children's charities.

Dilly Dally donated $1,000, part of which came from a percentage of the gifts purchased at the store for the shower, to Kids 'N Community Foundation. The team foundation helps educational and children's organizations.

The store also will give $1,000 in merchandise toward the remaking of a Durham boy's room for April's Angels, a local nonprofit group that creates fantasy bedrooms for chronically ill children. Hurricanes wives will provide the manual labor for redesigning the room of 4-year-old Brandon Noble, who has autism and an unrelated brain tumor.

Premier Baby & Child will cover the shower and new room in its magazine set for release in July.

Tuesday's party was just another gathering for the wives.

They keep in touch with monthly newsletters and more regular e-mail messages, phone calls and get-togethers. This month, a group rented a bus to travel to a Justin Timberlake concert. An Easter egg hunt is planned for their 30 or so kids, most under age 6. A rookie Hurricane, as usual, will be made to dress up as the Easter Bunny.

The women say they're linked by common experiences. They understand the highs, lows and uncertainties of professional sports.

They call themselves the "red hot mamas," after a nail polish they started wearing during the playoffs last year, said Jennifer Daniels.

Stacey Adams wasn't sure she would be included in the shower because her husband no longer plays for the team. When she heard she'd still be part of it, she cried.

"I'm really going to miss you next year," she told the group after opening presents.

"You're always going to be a red hot mama," Daniels told her.