Baby boom happening among staff members at Medical Center

LOGAN, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- There's a joke circulating among the nurses on the fourth floor of Logan Regional Medical Center.

"Everyone was afraid to drink the water," said Keshia Wooten, a nurse at the hospital. "They're like 'bottled water from now on.' No more fourth-floor water."

It's like the old saying goes, 'don't drink the water.' But others at the hospital say they don't think it was the water.

"They joke that it's our secretary's candy," said Summer Johnson. "Because right around the time she started bringing us these troughs of candy to share, everyone started having these babies."

And not just one or two babies. At one point on the fourth floor of the hospital, eight different nurses were pregnant or had their baby. They were able to capture a picture of the baby boom.

But not long after the picture was taken, several other staff members on the floor announced their exciting news.

"Some of them didn't know then that they were pregnant," Johnson said.

Keshia Wooten started the chain reaction with her little girl, Trinity, who was born in August. This is her and her husband's first child.

"Then everyone just started getting pregnant," Wooten said. "It just kept happening like boom, boom, boom."

Summer Johnson was the next to announce on the floor.

Her daughter, Amelia, is now 2 months old. This is her second child.

"I got married December 22 and she was born September 12," Johnson said. "I knew pretty much right away that she was going to be joining us. I couldn't wait to come back and tell all the girls at work because we celebrate each other."

The third baby of the group was just born days ago. A majority of the babies haven't entered the world yet.

The last members of this group are set to arrive in April or May.

"We love it," Johnson said. "We have little baby showers for each other. It takes a village to raise these babies and we are a village for each other."

Halley Porter is somewhere in the middle of the group. She is 33-weeks and is set to welcome her first child very soon.

"I'm excited," Porter said. "It's still a joke on our floor though. When someone says they are sick with a symptom, we say 'are you pregnant, too?'"

As fast as this baby boom spread on the fourth floor of the hospital, it seems no floor is safe. Other nurses in different departments have also announced they are pregnant.

One of them is Megan O'Brien who is 17-weeks along. She works in the labor and delivery unit of the hospital and is planning on having her baby there.

"There are so many pregnant people walking around and I was so excited to be a part of it," O'Brien said. "I think it's a great atmosphere. I think when they choose to have their babies here that they are going to get exceptional care. We have state-of-the-art equipment. We have wonderful nursing staff and physicians, and they get very close to home feel. We make you feel like family, and that's why I am excited to deliver here."

The majority of the babies in the bunch are girls.

"I think we only have two boys," Wooten said.

"This is a popular year for girls," according to Johnson.

Johnson admits that being a nurse is tough -- working long shifts and sometimes having to see patients in some of their worst moments. But, she says the joy the babies bring overshadows that.

"This job it weighs on you very heavy and this is a very hard time to be in health care," Johnson said. "We do it because we love it and we want to take care of our community, and that's why we stay. We want to help the people around us, but it is hard. So when we get home and we see these smiling faces, that's so rewarding."