Nine nurses working on the same maternity ward are all heavily pregnant and due to give birth at around the same time.
The odds-defying baby boom provoked plenty of excitement upon its official reveal by Maine Medical Center, which said each of the women were expecting to welcome a new child over the next few months.
Posting on Facebook, the Portland hospital said: “How’s this for a baby boom? Nine of our nurses (eight of whom are in this photo) are expecting babies between April and July! Congratulations!”
Thousands of well-wishers have liked, shared or commented on the picture, which shows the nurses holding up signs displaying their respective due dates.
And the hospital has reassured those who have expressed concern about a potential staffing shortage this summer, telling its online followers: “Don’t worry! We have a plan!”
The photo had earlier gone viral after one of the pregnant nurses, Brittney Verville, posted it on her own Facebook page.
She wrote: “Something is definitely in the water here at Maine Medical Center on the Labor and Delivery Unit! Lots of baby friends being made this summer!”
One of her colleagues told US network WMTW that the pregnancy announcements got “happier each time”.
Erin Grenier said: “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.”
Another of the nurses, Amanda Spear, added: “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.”
Believe it or not, there was an even more extraordinary baby boom involving pregnant nurses at a hospital in Arizona last year, where 16 were expecting at the same time.
The intensive care nurses at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, which is about 20 miles from Phoenix, were all due to give birth between October and January.
