A special day to honor a special lady

It seems incredible that someone so key to our families and communities needs to have a day set aside to receive the recognition she deserves, but such is the case with American mothers.

Perhaps that is the real reason -- in most families, Mom is the foundation no one thinks about, takes for granted like air or gravity. As such, she is more than deserving of a day off or a special meal.

A day off is right; according to the U.S. Census, 61 percent of mothers with a recent birth were in the labor force, compared to 57 percent in 2006.

But if Mom stays home with the kids, there were 5 million like her in 2010, down from 5.1 million in 2009 and 5.3 million in 2008.

In 2010, 23 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 15 had a stay-at-home mother, up from 21 percent in 2000. In 2007, before the recession, stay-at-home mothers were found in 24 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 15.

Compared with other moms, stay-at-home moms in 2007 were more likely to be:

* Younger (44 percent were under 35 compared with 38 percent of mothers in the labor force).

* Hispanic (27 percent compared with 16 percent of mothers in the labor force).

* Foreign-born (34 percent compared with 19 percent of mothers in the labor force).

* Living with a preschool-age child (57 percent compared with 43 percent of mothers in the labor force).

* Without a high school diploma (19 percent versus 8 percent of mothers in the labor force).

Other fun facts about motherhood:

* 42,746 births did not occur in hospitals. Of these, 28,357 were at home, 12,014 were in a freestanding birthing center.

* 32.6 births were twins per 1,000 total births in 2008, the highest rate on record.

* 6,268 is the number of triplet and higher order multiple births in 2008, the lowest number reported in more than a decade. The 2008 triplet and higher order multiple total included 5,877 triplets, 345 quadruplets, and 46 quintuplets and higher order multiples.

* July is the month with the highest number of births, with 375,384 in 2008.

* Tuesday is The most common day to deliver, with an average of 13,415 births taking place on Tuesdays in 2008.

* And that baby is most likely to be named Jacob and Isabella, which were the most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively, in 2009.

But we all know motherhood can't be reduced to statistics. Let's make Mother's Day special for a special lady this Sunday.