Almost half of this school’s teachers are pregnant—and their picture is going viral

More evidence this week that
pregnancy can be contagious among friends and coworkers. At an elementary school in Kansas nearly half the teachers are pregnant or have just had babies.

After the school posted a photo of the 7 mamas-to-be to Facebook the bump photo quickly went viral.

Soon
news organizations picked up the story of the baby boom at Oak Street Elementary.

“It’s so much fun to see the other mommies in the hall and we’re asking each other, ‘How do you feel,'” Kelli Jo Sheahon, a fourth-grade teacher expecting twins
told ABC News. “I don’t know that a lot of other people get that experience at work.”

Thankfully, the due dates are staggered so the whole team won’t be on maternity leave at the same time. The teachers’ boss doesn’t mind planning the maternity leave coverage. She’s just been thrilled for her staff (after she got over the shock). “I was very excited, obviously, because this is great news,” Ashley Miller, the school’s principal,
told ABC News. “After the third one I was a little in shock, the fourth one I was really in shock, the fifth one I didn’t know what to say and by the seventh one I had to remember to congratulate her because my first words were, ‘Are you kidding me?'”

Miller’s been working at Oak Street for two decades and says “I have never in my life had this many pregnant people in the building. Never happened.”

There are a couple less pregnant people in the building now as two of the teachers gave birth last week.

ABC reports the school was recently approved for a renovation and Miller is joking (but kind of serious) about asking for a nursery to be built. “I don’t think I’m going to get that but I’ll always ask,” she said.

This is a great reminder that many teachers have short maternity leaves and struggle to provide childcare for their children while caring for ours. It should also be noted that many teachers are among the working mothers in America not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act’s Break Time for Nursing Mothers law. This means you end up with teachers pumping in supply closets or their cars instead of lactation rooms, so hopefully Miller can get one of those approved during the renovation, too.

Congrats to all the teachers at Oak Street Elementary

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• It’s science: Pregnancy can be contagious among friends
• This viral photo shows how pregnancy can be contagious—even for dads
• At this office, parents can bring their baby to work until they’re about 6 months old