TACOMA, Wash. — There's a fun phenomenon unfolding at Tacoma General Hospital's birthing center. Over the summer, staff members have created a mini "baby boom" of their own as 18 of them are either pregnant or just had a baby.
"Patients will even comment about how many pregnant nurses are coming and going. It’s awesome!" said Susan Rodriguez, the nurse manager at Tacoma General Hospital.
She said the pregnancies and births haven't been an issue for staffing because they have backups who happily fill in and more than half of the expecting moms have recently delivered their babies.
"Most of them work right up until they are ready to deliver," Rodriguez said. "Some even assist with the other pregnancies, so it's really fun."
The coronavirus pandemic has led to a lot of uncertainty for the expecting mothers, but they've also found comfort in being surrounded by so many other moms-to-be.
"I think it's given me a greater empathy towards the patients and what they're going through and it's just been kind of a nice bonding experience," said one of the nurses expecting to deliver in the coming months.
"It's really exciting, and I feel like it brought us a lot closer together," said one of the other expecting mothers.