It's time to make a Year 2000 baby

PARIS (March 16, 1999- Listen up, couples. If you're interested in ushering in the year 2000 with a baby, it's time to take action, according to French fertility experts.

Starting Wednesday and running through April Fools Day, couples who engage in sex have the best chance of celebrating the new year in a maternity ward.

Experts, however, disagree on the which day would be a sure bet to conceive a child. The British have opted for March 17, the Americans April 9, the French April 1 and the Norwegians are betting on the period between March 30 and April 10.

Professor Jean-Rene Zorn, a French fertility expert, said that even if couples engaged in sex on April 1, there were no guarantees.

"The chances of winning are very slim," he told the French daily Le Parisien. "The woman has to ovulate on that day, she has to become pregnant, which happens one out of four times, and she has to deliver the baby exactly nine months later, which rarely occurs."

In Britain, the ITV television chanel will Wednesday launch a "Birth rate 2000" campaign by airing risque programs described as an "introduction for couples hoping to conceive a baby that will be born on New Year's Day 2000."

In Norway, the small village of Otta is sponsoring sexual events at the end of March - including erotic movies and free hotel rooms - to encourage couples to be on target March 30.