When North Carolina teacher Nancy Bullard was preparing for maternity leave, she wanted to make sure her students were part of the process.
At the start of the 2021-2022 school year, the K-5 science teacher in Charlotte announced her pregnancy to her students, letting them know she would be gone for three months after Thanksgiving.
"I didn’t want them to get caught off guard when I stopped coming to school," Bullard, 32, told TODAY Parents, adding her roster of students rotates through her science lab weekly. "Plus, I wanted to reassure them that my leave was temporary."
Before her leave began, Bullard did a lesson called “Baby Bonanza” where students had the chance to draw her baby, a boy named Sam, predict his birthday, weight, and time of birth.
"They also gave me very cute parenting advice and tips on how to be a good mom," the new mom said.
So when Bullard returned to work after welcoming Sam on December 1, 2021, it only made sense to introduce her new baby to her 7- and 8-year-old students.
"I wanted to take a few minutes to catch up with students, introduce them to my son, and let them ask questions," Bullard explained. "When I wrote my lesson plan for this day I planned to spend about five minutes answering questions, but ended up spending nearly twenty minutes doing so."
Bullard's students seem to be enamored with their teacher's new son — but they had questions.
Right away, one student wanted to know if baby Sam ever cried. Another asked if Bullard was teaching baby Sam how to walk.
"Is it difficult to have a baby?" one student asked.
"Yeah, yeah it is," Bullard responded. "It's pretty tough."
Another student wanted to know, "When he goes to sleep do you have to sleep with him or does he sleep with his dad?"
"Nope, he sleeps all by himself in his crib the whole night!" Bullard responded, clapping her hands excitedly. "Round of applause for baby Sam!"
While clapping, one student shouted, "That baby is not afraid!"
Added another, "I had to sleep with my mom until I was one year old!"
But the biggest question for Bullard was yet to come.
"Where do babies come from?" one student asked.
Without hesitation, Bullard pointed to her mid-section and replied, "They come from an organ called your uterus."
Bullard told TODAY a lesson earlier in the year on organ functions helped her students, who range in age from 5 to 11, understand.
“Regardless of age, all my students understand the basic concept of pregnancy: there was a baby inside me, now that baby is out, and I spent maternity leave taking care of him,” she said.
Bullard shared the video, which has garnered more than seven million views across platforms, to her social channels, “Mrs. B TV” on Tik Tok and Instagram.
"Students were interested, curious, and excited to get their questions answered," Bullard said. "As a science teacher, I welcome curiosity and always strive to answer questions factually."
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