In the labor and delivery unit at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio, the people who usually guide other women through pregnancy are all going through it at the same time. Seventeen nurses on the unit are expecting, a new record for the department. It also raises an obvious question: who will cover all those shifts?
A record-breaking bump count
The unit was beating its own record. In 2019, eleven of its nurses were pregnant together. This time the number has climbed to 17, and many of the women are expected to go on maternity leave around the same time.
On June 4, Premier Health Miami Valley Hospital shared a photo of 15 of the expectant nurses. They pose together in matching uniforms, baby bumps on full display. The picture has since gone viral.
The hospital said the women range from 12 to 35 weeks along. It described the photo as a celebration of "this incredible moment, their shared journey, and the unique bond they have as colleagues and soon-to-be mothers."
Best friends with a plan
The group is a mix. Some of the nurses are expecting their first child, while others are expecting their second or more. Two of them, Maddie and Rileigh, asked to be identified only by their first names for privacy reasons. Both have worked at Miami Valley for five years, and both are pregnant with their second child. Maddie is 26 weeks along, while Rileigh is about 31 weeks.
The pair are also best friends, which has led to a very practical plan. "Maddie and I are actually best friends. So I’m planning on having Maddie deliver my baby," Rileigh said. She added that there is nobody she would trust more to deliver her children than the people she works with.
Rileigh stressed that the timing was not deliberate. "This wasn’t like, our plan, but it just so happened to work out like that. We’re really just lucky to be able to go through this experience together."
So who covers the shifts?
Online, the reaction was quick and funny. One commenter wrote, "Imagine what staffing will be like when the babies come." Another joked, "Imagine you’re in labor and your nurse goes into labor too."
The hospital says there is no need to panic. Amberly Saner, a nurse manager in the unit, explained that the department does not expect any staffing changes, because it has 200 nurses and support nurses on staff.
"We have a lot of support nurses that can pick up [shifts]. We also have a lot of part-time staff that can pick up an extra day and so, we’re not too worried about the coverage," Saner said.
For now, the 17 nurses are still at work, caring for other families while their own pregnancies move along, from 12 to 35 weeks when the photo was taken. When their turns come, some of them may well end up delivering each other’s babies.
Image credit: premierhealth/Facebook
Source: The Mirror US
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