SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – When you come to the Sanford Birthplace you’re going to meet a lot of nurses and there’s a good chance some of them will be related.
Fourteen women make up seven mother and daughter duos that each work at the Birthplace.
“I was actually pregnant with Madysn when I started working here so she’s literally been with me since day one,” Darla Grotewold said.
Darla Grotewold has been with Sanford for 24 years and her daughter Madysn joined her about three years ago.
“As I got older and kind of really understood what my mom did, I always thought she was like a rock star,” Madysn Grotewold said. “When I actually understood what she did I was just like so in awe and I was like, I know for sure I want to follow in her footsteps.”
She isn’t the only daughter here who wanted to follow in mom’s footsteps. Take, for example, Heather Knutson and her mom Ronda Haushild.
“I always knew that my mom, like how much joy this job brought my mom and so I didn’t really have any other option that I considered for a career than wanting to work next to her and be as good of a nurse as she is,” Heather Knutson said.
And then there’s Katie Lobach and her mom Lyndy Peterson.
“I think for a while I was like, “well, no I’m not going to be into OB because that’s where my mom is,” and then in school I just completely fell in love with it too,” Katie Lobach said.
Being a nurse isn’t easy, so these daughters are grateful to have someone helping them out along the way.
“I really like it as like a new nurse, having her like walk alongside me through like the good and bad days just kind of being that mentor to me like when I go home, if I have a certain scenario that I just need to talk over, I have her experience to help me through those,” Madysn Grotewold said.
It’s a bond the moms can appreciate too.
“If something has happened at work, she like can speak my language now,” Sarah Steffen said. “Where as before sometimes I’d come home and nobody understood what I meant.”
Sarah Steffen and her daughter Ava have also gotten to share some special moments together.
“And it was kind of fun, she got to see her first birth with me in the room,” Sarah Steffen said.
But just because mom is down the hall doesn’t mean the daughters get an easier time at work.
“And I told her, “now you don’t just get an ‘in’ because you’re my daughter. So you had better do well and not just think you’re in because you’re my daughter,” Peterson said. “So I think I’m almost harder on her at work than I am on other nurses, but you’re hard on me too.”
And the daughters are meeting those expectations.
“I have known most of those young girls since they were babies and have seen them grow into extraordinary young women, extraordinary nurses,” Ronda Haushild said.
Mothers and daughters growing and working together as they help bring new life into the world.
“I think we have the best job ever,” Lobach said.
“We do have the best job ever. And we get to do it together,” Peterson said.
The number of mother and daughter duos at the Sanford Birthplace doesn’t stop at seven.
There are three more duos who weren’t able to meet with KELOLAND News, bringing the total to 20 women who make up 10 mother/daughter duos.
