A baby boom is coming to the labor and delivery unit of a Maine hospital, where nine of its nurses will give birth to their babies around the same time.
The labor and delivery nurses at Maine Medical Center in Portland are all due between April and July.
“After each one of us started to say, ‘We’re pregnant,’ I think it was a happier kind of announcement each time, and we’re all there for each other,” nurse Erin Grenier told WMTW.
Something in the water? 9 hospital nurses pregnant at the same time https://t.co/EHBdzzgzMM
The labor and delivery unit at a Maine hospital will be crowded over the next few months as nine of its nurses are expected to give birth ???????????? pic.twitter.com/ycu3DP7Ceo
— Local 12/WKRC-TV (@Local12) March 26, 2019
The hospital announced its baby boom Monday on social media and congratulated the mothers. Eight of them were featured in a picture showing their baby bumps.
How’s this for a baby boom? Nine of our nurses (8 of whom are in this photo) are expecting babies between April and July! Congratulations!
The hospital responded to some people’s concerns regarding having enough staff in the summer, commenting “Don’t worry! We have a plan.”
The nurses have supported each other from the beginning and will continue to do so until they all give birth, according to WMTW.
“It is really nice coming to work and seeing other people who are just as pregnant watching their bellies pop and just talking about these experiences that we are going through together,” nurse Amanda Spear told WMTW.
LABOR ISSUE: The Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, may need some fill-ins soon, with nine labor and delivery nurses at the hospital expecting babies of their own. @DavidMuir reports. #AmericaStrong https://t.co/EAc3s4eGbO pic.twitter.com/ABRPbACZnb
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) March 26, 2019
9 Nurses at Another Hospital Pregnant Simultaneously
In a similar incident last year, nine nurses working in the same unit at a hospital were all pregnant at the same time in a rare coincidence that they said took them by surprise.
The nurses, who worked together in the neuro-trauma care unit at Salem Hospital in Oregon, first realized they were all pregnant in January 2018.
One of the nurses, Tammie Gregor, who was due in September 2018, said that they had each planned their pregnancies, but were unaware of each others’ plans. “We just somehow planned them all at the same time,” she told KOIN 6 News amusedly.
“Everyone has different things going on,” Amber Rouleau, another one of the nurses, told KOIN 6 News.
“None of us consulted each other for when this was happening. I think if we get to number 10, that would be pretty crazy,” Rouleau added, referring to one of the nursing assistants, who was also pregnant. If her assistant was counted, the number of pregnancies would actually be 10.
Hilary Keck, one of the nurses, was expecting her first child. She told KOIN 6 News that going through the pregnancy alongside the others was “really nice,” and said that all of the expectant mothers were very understanding and “all kind of look out for each other.”
NTD News reporter Mimi Nguyen-Ly, and CNN Wire contributed to this report.