36 Nurses at Missouri Hospital Expected to Give Birth This Year: 'Raising These Babies Together'

Photo: Children’s Mercy Hospital

The babies just keep coming at this Missouri hospital!

Thirty-six nurses who work in the neonatal intensive care unit at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City are pregnant or have recently given birth — that’s 36 babies expected this year. As of the end of July, 21 babies had been born and 15 more were on the way,according to CBS News.

Nurses at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri.Children’s Mercy Hospital

As the region’s only Level IV NICU, these nurses care for “some of the most complex and critically ill infants in the Midwest,” according toa hospital statement. And now Carboneau knows more than ever what it’s like for the parents of those sick babies. Her son Ben was born on Feb. 9 with a heart defect. He has since recovered.

“I was a mess because I’ve seen a lot of things [as a nurse],” she said in the statement. “It was an out-of-body experience because I knew what to expect when he was getting transported to the NICU.”

Photos of the group showed the women either holding their babies or their pregnant bellies. And the women are all just as close as they appear, caring for one another during their pregnancy journeys.

“We can chat about it and vent about it and be excited for each other,” nurse Michelle Janes, due to give birth in November, toldUSA Today. “Especially those of us who already have kids. Many of us give each other opinions on things. We have a Facebook group and we weigh in on everything from diaper rash to kids crawling out of their crib.”

“It’s great support and there’s always a mass of toddlers running around,” she said. “And they’re all getting to recognize each other, and that’s fun.”

And the women say having babies of their own has given them a better understanding of the deep love that accompanies parenthood.

Last summer, 16 nurses at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, Arizona,were pregnant at the same time.

source: people.com