Nine nurses who work in the Labor and Delivery Unit at Maine Medical Center now share an added common bond.

All nine are pregnant, with due dates falling between April and late July.

“Something is definitely in the water here at Maine Medical Center on the Labor and Delivery Unit! Nine pregnant (8 pictured) nurses. Lots of baby friends being made this summer!” one of the pregnant nurses, Brittney Verville, wrote in a  post on her Facebook page.

Verville posted a photograph of eight of the nine pregnant nurses. Each nurse can be seen holding a placard stating her due date.

Verville said that when she woke up Sunday she found that the Facebook post about the hospital’s baby boom had been shared nearly 2,000 times and attracted hundreds of comments.

“I was very surprised and very shocked,” Verville said Monday afternoon during a conference call from the Portland hospital – with all nine nurses in attendance.

Erin Grenier, another nurse on the maternity unit, said she will be the first of the Labor and Delivery Unit nurses to deliver. Her due date is April 16.

Rachel Stellmach, who is expecting her fourth child, said it has been fun to be able to share this experience with her co-workers, who work the night shift at the hospital.

Lonnie Soucie said the nurses on the unit began to suspect something unusual was up last fall when one after another started to reveal that they were pregnant.

The situation is especially significant for Soucie and her colleagues, who are all close friends, because of their passion for helping women deliver newborns. “We’re definitely bedside nurses and supportive of the patients. We’re right there from the start,” Soucie said.

The pregnant nine said it is wonderful, after supporting patients for most of their careers, to be able to support each other as they approach such an important milestone in their lives.

None of the nine is expecting twins, but six nurses know their child’s gender. Four will be boys, two will be girls and the remaining babies – well, their parents will be surprised.

After News Center Maine (WCSH/WLBZ) broke the story, the nurses spent part of Monday in interviews with media outlets from Maine and across the nation.

Their story garnered national attention on Monday when NBC Nightly News with anchor Lester Holt featured the nurses in the segment of the broadcast meant to uplift viewers.

During that interview, the nurses predicted that one day their children would be able to staff a baseball or a football team.

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