'So many bellies': Pediatric colleagues experience office baby boom
The five women attend daily lunches together and crave "a lot of candy."
A doctor's office will soon welcome five new little patients thanks to a sudden baby boom.
Over the next six months, colleagues Jessica Mielcarek, Anni Portocarrero, Meghan Keil, Kathy Krueger and Stephanie Holt of Franklin Park Pediatrics in Toledo, Ohio, will deliver their bundles of joy.
"I was excited for them, and that I wouldn't be going through it alone," said front staff employee, Mielcarek, 28, who was first to announce her June 12th due date. "Everytime somebody walks in they say, 'There's so many bellies around here! Don't drink the water."
Portocarrero, a 29-year-old nurse, is next in line with a baby girl named Hattie Sophia who is due to arrive July 16. Keil, 32, a medical assistant is expecting her daughter, Emily Anne, on August 12, followed by front staff employee, Kathy Krueger, 33, on September 26 ,who is keeping her baby's sex a surprise.
Holt, 29, another front staff employee, will be the final mom to give birth on November 15 with a girl named McKenzie.
Holt said her coworkers have been a great support system for her during her pregnancy.
"I was relieved [to have them] because I had all of them to ask my questions to," she said.
Jen Matuszewski, medical billing supervisor and media specialist of Franklin Park Pediatrics, said the office exudes a "fun, family environment" -- now more than ever.
"This is where we work to see babies all day and when it's your coworkers, it's even more exciting," Matuszewski said. "Everybody gets along and the doctors have been fantastic."
Holt said she and the four moms-to-be often go to lunch together and crave "a lot of candy."