A mother goose chose the labour and delivery unit at Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) in Kamloops, B.C. as the nesting spot for her eggs.
A Canada goose and her three eggs — laid under a windowsill at the hospital — have had the audience of nurses and hospital employees who work in the ward since nesting there a few weeks ago.
Though they spend most of their days delivering human babies, the team won’t be helping this mother in any hands-on way. However, the staff have set up a video baby monitor to watch the bird family.
“We are here offering encouragement and support virtually,” said Dara Johnson, RIH patient care co-ordinator.
“We occasionally take a peek out the window at Mother Goose on her nest, which is about three feet below. But we have covered the window with a little sheet so she is not startled away by too much movement inside.”
Interior Health said on March 31, a hospital maintenance worker spotted an egg in the gravel and its mother nearby.
“She is super sweet and we are so lucky she chose us to help her with her delivery,” Johnson said, adding the whole unit is enamoured with the soon-to-hatch goslings.
Monica Manderson, a RN at RIH, said the new family is exactly what the nursing staff needed.
“We haven’t had a lot of great things happen over the past two years of COVID,” Manderson said.
“It’s been exhausting, so to have this little new life that is different from the other new lives we see here is kind of fun.”
IH said Johnson and her team have reached out to the bird sanctuary in Burnaby as well as the B.C. Wildlife Park to ensure they are doing everything right for Mother Goose — as they call her — and her feathered partner who visits regularly.
Mother Goose’s due date is expected to be May 3.
