KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — So this is a crazy story! Four morning show moms had four morning show babies in 2020.
Once upon a time at a sweet little 'Straight From the Heart' TV station in Knoxville, Tennessee, there were four morning show anchors who all had babies in one year.
Rebecca Sweet had Aria, Heather Waliga had Harper, Abby Ham had Robbie and Leslie Ackerson had Heidi.
Yup, all girls!
"What? We are all having babies in 2020? Is this really happening? It was a really fun experience to share all together," said 10News Today Anchor Heather Waliga.
And you know what else happened in 2020? The pandemic, which made things more challenging, The Channel 10 moms felt that too.
"When Heidi looks at her baby book, grandma and grandpa are wearing masks," said WBIR Anchor Leslie Ackerson. "It's a little sad because you see the joy in their eyes, but the smile is covered up."
"The actual birth we could only have one visitor other than our spouse and that person had to switch off," said 10 News Today Anchor Abby Ham.
"The hardest moments were not getting to see my parents," said Meteorologist Rebecca Sweet. "They saw Aria when she was a week and a half old and the next time they saw her was when she was a year and a half."
"All the sudden you find yourself shut-in with a toddler and a newborn and virtually no visits from anyone. It was kind of a lonely time," said Waliga.
But these anchor moms truly were all in it together.
"It's such a blessing to have all of us who can lean on one another, laugh about the good things and sometimes tear up about the moments that are hard," said Sweet.
"It's just really helpful to have that relationship with three other women on our show," said Ackerson.
Working early hours together really connects you on a different level.
"The nice thing is when we are exhausted and we all come in at 4:00 a.m. and we are all together and we can all talk, 'What was your night like? What was your night like? And oh my kid is doing this and they're not sleeping,' you don't feel alone," said Waliga.
"It's been really cool to have that bond with each other and we all love each other anyway and now hopefully our babies will love each other," said Ham.
And the babies do love each other. Because of COVID, they weren't able to get together so this is the first time all the Channel 10 baby girls got to meet and it was oh so sweet.
