Baby Boom: 5 MacNeal Hospital Birthing Center Staff Members Pregnant at Once

BERWYN, IL – The staff at the MacNeal Hospital Birthing Center is experiencing a unique baby boom. Five nurses in the units that care for new mothers and their babies are expecting babies of their own in the coming months.

Nurse manager Heather Chavez, RN, BSN, and mother-baby nurse Vanessa Martinez, RN, are due at the end of January. Labor and delivery nurse Jannet Avalos, RN, expects to deliver in late February. Carolina Echeverria, RN, who works in the special care nursery follows in March and mother-baby nurse Alisha Lopez, RN, is due in July. Together they're expecting three boys and two girls.

"It’s so different when you're the one that's pregnant," said Alisha Lopez. "I'm used to taking care of women after they've had the baby. So it's definitely different being the pregnant one."

Chavez, who is expecting her third boy, will be the first one to deliver. She says planning for the various maternity leaves has been smooth because only one nurse from each unit will be gone at a time. "There will be staff here to take care of everyone!"

MacNeal Hospital recently celebrated the mothers-to-be by throwing them a baby shower. Veteran nurse Mary Jo Kron who has worked in labor and delivery at MacNeal for 34 years remembers an even bigger boom 14 years ago when seven nurses were pregnant at once.

Photos of the mothers-to-be can be found at this link.