Seven Babies in Seven Months for Seven Neighbors
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File photo. Photodisc/ThomasNorthcut/Thinkstock(HASTINGS, Minn.) — If there really is something “in the water” when it comes to getting pregnant, then seven women in a block of seven yard-to-yard homes in a Minn., neighborhood must be chugging it.
Come February, all seven women will have delivered babies within a span of seven months.
No one was more surprised by this baby boom in a neighborhood in Hastings, Minn., than the seven moms and moms-to-be themselves.
“We all found out [we were pregnant] between January and June so by the time summer came and we all went outside, we all discovered that a lot of us were pregnant all right next to each other,” one of the expectant moms, Jackie Bauer, told GoodMorningAmerica.com. “First it was one girl who was pregnant and then another came out and announced it and then it was just one after another.”
“It took the seventh person to really think this was weird,” said Bauer, 32, who is expecting her third child with husband Scott in October.
The backyard of the Bauer’s home touches the backyard of the home of Amanda Cavness, 26, who just delivered her second son, Alex, last month. Their backyards touch the yard of Lynette and Dean Peterson, expecting their third baby in February. Their backyards back up to the home of Amber and Dustin Strong, expecting a girl in October. Amber, 27, is also a registered nurse at the hospital where six of the seven babies are scheduled to be born.
“It’s kind of like we all just understand exactly what each are going through,” she said. “Through the happy and sad moments we’ve formed an unforgettable bond.”
Also in the middle of the baby-boom pod of homes are Nikki Krauth and her husband, Mike, expecting their second child in mid-October, and Sam and Joe Perreault, who will have their second child in December.
Erica Kunert, 28, holds the distinction of being both, along with her husband, Darren, the newest neighbor – they moved in in May – and the newest mom. She gave birth to her first child, a son, Graham, three days ago.
“My reaction to the baby boom was excitement for my baby’s childhood,” Kunert wrote in an email from her hospital room. “He is going to have a lot of very close friends having known him since birth.”
The moms say the reaction from their neighbors has been comical. “I’ve noticed the big eye look a lot as people try to count who’s pregnant,” Cavness noted, as everyone tries to figure out whether it’s just a happy coincidence or something, really, in the water.
“I have been wanting a baby for almost three years and had decided it wasn’t going to happen when, suddenly, I discovered I was pregnant,” Peterson said. “So maybe there is something with the science or the water.”
“For me, personally, [getting pregnant with] my other two kids took much longer than this time,” Bauer said.
While the moms, all friends beforehand, have enjoyed watching their bond grow along with their bellies, what they’re really looking forward to, they say, is the neighborhood come February once all the babies are born and the years of fun they envision after that.
“I think our kids are meant to grow up together,” said the newest mom, Kunert. “I foresee lots of backyard activity with all our families, bonfires, baseball and hockey games, hanging out by kiddie pools and sprinklers in the summer and grill-outs.”
Peterson said, “The always say, ‘It takes a village.’ And now we have a village.”
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio