Hi, I am Justine.
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By Nurses. For Nurses, this is Happy Hour with Bundle Birth Nurses.
We have a special guest on our podcast today, season six.
It took us six seasons
to finally like get a travel nurse on an episode,
which I'm super excited about Our guest today
because she has a very interesting travel history.
She is a special recommendation.
You guys all you applied
and it was so nice to like read all of your applications.
But this one particularly was she was suggested by Heidi,
one of our educators Be, and rightfully so,
because your application was fascinating
and Sarah has no idea, she hasn't seen it.
So she's like, what are you guys? I'm here for the ride.
Great. We love it.
We love it. So if you just wanna introduce yourself
real quick, we'll just get going.
Yeah. My name is, uh, Lluvia Cordero.
I'm originally from El Paso, Texas.
Left there, did school in, in, uh, Corpus and then ended up in Austin. So that's where I primarily call home. And I kind of fell into travel nursing by mistake.
And Heidi knows me because it was my third assignment
after a real bad breakup and I ended up in Portland.
So that's how she knows me. Hmm. Yeah.
So I've been a nurse now for 15 years.
I was a traveler for about 12 years.
Just, uh, this December I decided to go ahead
and take a quick pause so
that I could focus on myself and my health.
Uh, but had it not been for having some health issues,
I probably would've still been traveling.
Um, so yeah, it's kind of
'cause And I'm just gonna like
I'm gonna go right to that.
You wanted, from your application,
you needed health insurance, right?
Like a Correct, stable health insurance.
Because that is one thing about travel nursing.
You only have it like for 13 weeks
and then it pauses or
what's the deal with that? I've always noticed.
So yeah, you can do like your own private like
insurance if you want to.
You're actually, you know, you're paying a premium, so keep
that in mind so it can be a little bit more expensive.
Mm-hmm. Um, unfortunately I kind of had like a couple stuff
that was going on, which I'm not embarrassed to talk about.
Like I've dealt with, uh, PTSD
and high functioning anxiety that I acquired during COVID.
Um, and then
after that I was in a really bad accident where I had
to be rescued from a mountain in Seattle, uh, hiking.
I love to hike. Um, and then, yeah, and then pre menopause.
I'm actually 38 years old, so, uh,
pre menopause was something that I was starting
to look towards and I was like, all right, girl,
we need this like consistent insurance
that's not crazy expensive.
Mm-hmm. Uh, obviously COVID rates were starting to come down
and I was like, all right,
let's just take a quick little pause and why not go staff
and just, you know, I'm out here in the bay,
so I'm definitely making quite a bag.

So I'm out here and I was like, all right, let's get it. I live a certain lifestyle, so I knew coming back to the Bay was gonna make sure that I stayed consistent with that bag. And by Bay, I think we're all assuming Sacramento area of California. Actually I am, I live in North Oakland and I work out in Palo Alto. I was just there. It's so beautiful. Northern California is my money. We took you out there to the Bay. I was visiting a couple girlfriends, which actually it was the friendship episode for those that listen to that episode. The girls I went to Vegas with, I went on a whim up there because one of them lives that direction. It's so beautiful. I haven't spent that much time up there, but oh my goodness, I'm going back. Yeah, the food is great. The drinks are great. The vibe is immaculate. So it's a good time.

Well you mentioned COVID there and so on your app actually, you have, you know, not many labor and delivery nurses faced like the full COVID. Yeah. I feel like faced the pushing with N95s both patient and nurse and like, you know, people couldn't be in the room. You were your scrub tech. You were the nurse, et cetera, but you actually spent time in the ICU, right? Yeah. So, again, I was a traveler for such a long time. I was in San Jose doing a travel assignment when COVID hit. So that's kind of where we started. So I definitely went through the whole not having enough supplies, which a lot of people didn't have—having to use the same mask over and over.

I do high‑risk labor and delivery. I personally, when it came down to taking assignments, I love going to wherever it was, high‑risk labor and delivery. So like, it was always gonna be those big hospitals, which, you know, it's either gonna be a MAP center that deals with accreta, twins, triplets, whatever the case is, you know, if it's like high risk. I was there. When COVID hit obviously too, we had to start going to the ICU. So we got to spend a lot of time there. And it was rough to say the least, you know, it took a long time for me to talk about it. Now I feel like in a much more comfortable place to talk about it. I feel comfortable being back in the ICU, I'm not gonna lie, there has been times where I am in the ICU and it does take me back a little bit and I just kind of have to remind myself like, "Hey sis, this is a whole different time. Do your breathing exercise and we're good."

And I can't say that I'm alone in this boat because I know there's a lot of nurses, whether they were staff or travelers, because there's a lot of travelers out there that have also been doing this as long as I have, if not longer. And those that also love to bounce around. And they went through similar stories as well. And—to clarify, like ICU with pregnant patients, right? Yeah, correct. So we were having a lot of patients that were coming in, usually by the time they were in ICU, they were already intubated. It all just kind of depends what was going on with them. We would have patients that were being transferred into us. So they were coming in from Hawaii, Alaska, Montana, Idaho. Their severity was pretty bad. So they had to come to us or they no longer had ventilators or they were unable to take care of them 'cause they had a full house. So now they were coming to the state that I was currently at. And yeah.

So you were spending time in the ICU with them. And our main job as OB nurses was, um, to make sure we're watching the baby, we have them on the monitor coming in from the state of Texas. When I used to work there, it was very common for patients to get the flu. Flu season was one of the big ones where moms used to get really sick. You are coming from a state where a lot of the times they don't wanna do vaccinations or flu vaccines, whatever the case is. During the cold times when flu season was happening, sometimes we'd have patients that would end up being in the ICU being intubated because of respiratory issues. So yeah, usually your job is just, "I'm watching the strip, let your OB know like, 'Hey, the baby's not looking good. What is the decision that we're gonna make?'"

But COVID was a huge, huge, huge turn in that sense that now everyone's already in a heightened state, right? You're having multiple people on ventilators, and now you have a mom that's there pregnant and obviously it's like, yeah, we gotta take care of her. And you have your OB doc that's like, "I wanna take care of the baby and mom." And there were times where it was like, "We cannot go back for a section 'cause she's not stable enough for us to operate on her." Or, "She's a mom of three, four, or dad was like, 'I want my wife to make it.'" You know? So there were times, and again, I wasn't the only nurse that went through this. Everyone's gonna have their own stories just to let everyone know. I'm just sharing my stories.

The hardest part sometimes was having to shut that monitor and walk away and, you know, we'll see how it is in a couple days, in a week. If we're not gonna do anything, we're gonna try not to put her on the monitor. OB was coming up and scanning them. But firsthand I saw the pressures coming from the ICU docs with the OB docs, them fighting. Because you have someone on a ventilator, whatever the case was. And then, seeing the ICU nurses, it was hard watching them. I personally am someone that loves to help as much as possible. And it was hard to watch them like, you know, have their two patients, sometimes three, depending what hospital I was at. You know, they're struggling or rushing around. You have several people on vents and they need to be turned every two hours, maybe one‑hour respiratory tech going crazy.

So when I was in the ICU, I used to always love to help them. I love helping them out. But after a while, that does take an emotional toll on you. And my issue was, through therapy and all that I learned, I ended up with high‑functioning anxiety. And essentially my thing was I performed very well under high‑pressure situations, but it was coming home the come‑down that was extremely hard for me. I didn't like things to be real quiet. I just didn't know essentially how to chill back down. And that was something that I had to learn to do again.

I'm curious because I don't know if I've ever thought about that as a symptom of high‑functioning anxiety. And so I'm curious what tools you ended up using and how you've sort of managed, because I think that, yeah, I mean, that's a struggle of probably all nurses. I mean, that amount of stress is a different level, and it does sort of like, it amps everything up and then you layer COVID on top of that like, yeah, I can't even imagine. But I'm thinking like for anybody in a stressful job, your mind's racing. What were some of the tools you learned and used?

Yeah, so one of the biggest things was, believe it or not, this will all tie back into traveling nursing. Again, I had had some really bad situations happen. COVID was a heightened time. And I had a situation happen in San Francisco, which I was fully supported by my manager and director. Now I can talk about that later. But essentially, I was talking to my recruiter and letting them know like, "Hey, this is all going down." And she could tell that I was just in some form of distress. And she's like, "I hear you and it sounds like you're having a hard time with this." I'm like, "I feel like maybe you should talk to a therapist." Like our company actually offers two to three free therapy sessions. Someone that you can talk to and then just kind of process things.

They did set me up with someone from Texas. I will say we definitely did not click me and her, and that's okay. But it was just enough push to open that door to seek and ask for help. I am Mexican in my culture. We—I, and again, I'm only speaking for myself—but a lot of my Latinos or Mexicanos will tell you like, depression is not a thing in our culture. Unfortunately, a lot of the newer, younger people were, it's something that we're trying to break down in our community and talk to them about. So for me, it was hard. It was hard for me to ask for help and be like, "Hey, I need to do this." And it was through my company that I got those three sessions and it was enough for me to do that therapy and then find a therapist. And I ended up with the therapist for about three to four years. And she was amazing. It was a lot of talking. It wasn't easy. You know, you hear a lot of the therapy is not linear, and it wasn't, it was ups and downs and I'm glad that I stuck through it.

I did a lot of acupuncture, natural remedies. And then at the end, about two years ago I ended up adding medication. I'm not on an antidepressant. Essentially what I do is I take a beta blocker, PRN, just when I feel heightened. I'll do everything else that I have to do—whether it's my breathing techniques, stepping away from the situation. I have multiple things. I do meditate sometimes that helps a lot. And if that's not helping, it's like, "Alright sis, pony up, throw that beta blocker in, sip it down." And like, it's okay to ask for help and it's okay to use those tools. Right? So that's the biggest thing.

I love that message of asking for help, 'cause I think, yeah, when you're in a helping profession, obviously all of us know that. We overextend a lot. And we care more typically about, again, stereotyping here, but like a lot of times we care more about other people than we do about ourselves. And so I love that you gave yourself permission to care for yourself and also acknowledge the hard stuff you've been through.

One of the reasons why I was really inspired to get a travel nurse on here was to talk about how different places practice what you see. And something you put on your application that really sparked my interest was that you would see more of a certain type of patient in different areas. You put in here, like in LA you see a lot of preeclampsia. In San Diego…tons of cardiac. I'd love to talk more about that and like, why do we think that's the case?

Same. I would love to know that reason as well, but like, and I don't know if I feel like of the travelers that I know that I'm friends with, they were like, "Yeah, I've noticed that too." Even when I went staff at the current hospital that I was there, I was like, "What is the thing that you see the most of?" And she was even like, "Oh my God. Yeah. You're gonna see here a lot of chorio, right? As opposed to like out here you're gonna see more of preeclampsia." I think age is gonna add a factor to it. Are there people, culture? Right? Like where are they coming from? Whatever the case is. But yeah, it was really interesting in San Diego. Love that hospital. I'll definitely give them a shout out. UCSD. They were amazing. Loved working with those girls. We definitely saw a lot of cardiac patients, which was completely new to me. I feel like we saw a ton of them, which was something that I didn't work with a lot. So it was really nice that I was there for that year and a half 'cause I got to learn a lot from them, ask questions, and feel supported.

In LA we did see a lot of preeclampsia, but what we didn't see was a lot of postpartum hemorrhages. So it was just all different. And it also has to do with practices. The place in LA that I worked at, I feel like we didn't see as much postpartum hemorrhages, and this is gonna be a hot take. And again, I was just there as a traveler, but their recoveries were pretty quick. It was like, "Girl, we gotta get stuff moving." So like placenta's out, we're counting it, your legs are up. As soon as they came down, you're putting in like a fully straight catheter situation and you keep that on all the way until we're ready to go to postpartum. And I feel like keeping that bladder nice and low was like preventing these postpartum hemorrhages. Interesting. But again, I have no rationale for it. That was just one observation that I saw.

And yeah, it all just kind of depends on my last travel assignment that I was at in San Francisco—I think I saw a lot of preeclampsia, but a lot of those patients were also much older. Most likely that's where it's coming from. And also IVF.

What if money wasn't a thing, like we all made the same amount, what state would you work in? I am a pretty liberal person. People know I love the outdoors. I love a good scene. I would definitely end up in, man, that's a hard one. But Oregon or Washington, I love the Pacific Northwest. Anyone that knows me, they know that I have a huge love for that whole area. I feel the most free there. I'm able to do my job a lot more freely and just feel more connected to those patients for some reason. And I love the way nurses practice there. It's hard for me to explain, but yeah. I love the Pacific Northwest.

From going to so many different places between states, cities, demographics—all of that. Can you sort of give us some insight into the variations of practice that you've observed? Yeah. Again, I'm from Texas, so like all my Texas girls know it's hard. Working in Texas is hard. Working in any southern state is hard. So my heart always goes out to them, but damn, they make some damn good nurses. Because you're definitely working in a high‑pressure environment. We're short staffed. You are it—you're having your two patients. If I'm charge nurse, I'm also having a patient. I think within that first year that I was nursing, I was already doing triage. I had been fresh off orientation and still doing triage. I'll say, at the time that I was in Texas, we were so short staffed that we were not able to cater to a lot of the natural patients. And it was just a lack of education. And also too, the lack of not having enough time. I can't be there to support you. I have another patient who's dipping. Girl, it was kind of like, you're kind of doing this on your own. So that was one of the biggest things that I saw out in the southern states. Same thing with, actually, I can't say in South Carolina because we were still short staffed, but there was a little bit more support there at the time.

I’m gonna have a little bit more time to do more of those hands-on stuff. But when it came down to the Pacific Northwest, y’all, they have it together and you’re having a lot of patients that are coming prepared and ready to go natural. And yeah, I just love doing labor there. I’ll be honest, I didn’t wanna be an L&D nurse. I learned to love what I did once I got to Portland where I was working—with Heidi or wherever she’s at now. They were just so amazing. They were so kind, so caring. They showed me how to talk to patients and be supportive, and also to take a step back and not be so judgmental. Support them in the decisions they’ve made and help them continue on with that, if that makes sense.

It’s a fascinating observation of unit culture—and how it not only affects patient care, but also your own love of your job. Oh, a hundred percent. Now, you haven’t always just been on the floor. And I don’t know if you feel comfortable talking about a specific travel assignment that you did where you were in a role terminating people. Do you talk about that? Like terminations? Yeah. I mean, yeah. I definitely would love to talk about it. It’s actually one of my biggest passions.

When I went ahead and talked to you guys, I did ask if there was something you were off limits. So one of the traveling assignments I went to was in Portland, Oregon. Again, I’ve been to Portland twice. But this last time when I was there, I was given the chance to work with a hospital that not only specialized in fetal demise, but specializes in Toops—terminations of pregnancy. And when they asked me, “Do you do Toops?” I was like, “Wait, what?” And they’re like, “Terminations.” At first I was kind of confused—I thought they meant “the mics." Then I realized, oh wait, these are terminations. And I specialize in that. I love doing that.

I love being able to provide care for these women or their partners, whatever they’re coming in as. I quickly fell in love with helping people coming into our state, our hospital—whether for termination or palliative care. They also offered palliative care. I have so many stories from that place that truly touch my heart. That changed my practice and viewing for the better. And just to the nurses that provide that care: amazing human beings. After working there and going back to traveling, I realized something about nurses being in fetal demise committees—when you hear “termination,” some people clamp up and forget that these people also have rights.

Do you want to hold your baby? Do you want a curtain to cover up while delivering? Do you want mementos? To me, it was odd. I remember the first time a colleague said, “Hey, this is the list,” and we went through it. I was like, “You guys still offer mementos?” She’s like, “Yeah, you never know their story.” And it’s true—you never know their story. I took care of a couple of patients—I won’t get too into details, but essentially it was taking her a long time to get delivered. Finally I sat down with her and had to give a heart-to-heart—that’s something I learned in Portland or the Pacific Northwest too. Sometimes you just have to take the badge off and talk straight, like friends, like real humans.

She was pausing—her IV would clamp, she didn’t call the nurses, she’d press pause or silence, and the medication wasn’t going in. She’d be in the bathroom too long. I said, “Hey sis, here’s what’s going on. Give me an opportunity to really get this done for you. I want this done as quickly as possible.” I asked if I could come into the bathroom, restart it, and get it moving. When we had that straight conversation, we became friends. She shared the reason for the TOP: they couldn’t afford a child. They were maxed out—on WIC, food stamps—couldn’t afford it. I talked with them about mementos again.

What really broke my heart was he asked, “Is there any way to record the baby’s heart rate?” They were too embarrassed to ask at the clinic. We had to say, “Unfortunately we can’t provide that, but I can offer other keepsakes.” No one knows their stories, so you have to keep that in mind when caring for them—they’re human beings. We had many people come from California and the southern states. I personally loved taking care of my fellow Texans—I know what it feels like to be in a red state. They saw my Texas charm chain; sometimes it was positive, sometimes negative. They’d wonder, “Is she with me?” I always told them: “I’m here in this state to provide these services for you. You are safe here. We got you. We’re gonna take really good care of you.”

If you heard someone say in L&D, “you have such a happy job,” you’d roll your eyes—because you already know the COVID story, the discrimination story. You’ve traveled a lot, done many hard assignments. But you’ve also worked with populations like survivors of sex trafficking—and that’s an area people don’t realize exists in labor and delivery.

and like be helpful in those cases. But
 Yeah, I've had, um, I've had a handful of cases.
 I mean, not a lot. You know, you always hear again,
 like you hear the stories
 or you know, when you go through educations,
 you have your educator talk about like, hey, you know, um,
 these are the signs of sex trafficking, kind of what you do.
 But for me, I can't speak for anyone else.
 I was just kind of like, what are the
 possibilities that's gonna happen?
 Right? Like, they're always like, the chances of
 that happening is pretty slim in the hospital
 when you are travel nursing, depending how many hospitals
 or contracts you do, girl, those chances
 for you are going mm-hmm.
 To go up way more.
 You know, there has been times where I've done stuff
 where I'm like, oh, this is so common.
 And they're like, this is not common for us. Mm.
 Um, so when it came to sex trafficking patients, um, I am
 so glad that I had such a good educator
 where I first started in Texas, which was Corpus Christi,
 because I remember the first time that happened we're like,
 I was like, wait a minute, something seems off.
 Like this is something way off, you know,
 and just something didn't sit well with me.
 And it's just like, you're kind of almost doubt yourself.
 You're like, is this real? Is this not?
 And then you really, like, for me, I just like, I mean,
 it is always important, you always know to like, let me talk
 to my patient, like separately without their spouse, right?
 Mm-hmm. Or sometimes people just click on the box unable
 to answer partners here.
 But it wasn't until like I had that first situation
 where I was like, damn, like this is for real.
 Like, I should always make sure
 that I have a time to talk to them.
 And I—How did you know? The way that I knew?
 Sometimes the way that I'm knowing, I don't wanna go off
 of just one person, but the ways
 that I'm knowing usually is going off of like,
 obviously the first one is gonna be like,
 the partner's always there, right?
 The partner's always wanting to answer.
 And I cut that out real quick.
 Like, I'm like, Hey, I know that you wanna,
 before I used to be a lot more rude.
 Now I'm a lot nicer.
 And I have like, you know, a better way of saying it,
 I tell the dad like, Hey, I love that.
 Thank you for answering. I appreciate it.
 But for the right now I really wanna like, focus with her.
 Or like, when I'm asking the questions,
 like my eyes are locked straight to her.
 If he answers, I'll look at her
 and be like, can you tell me more?
 Because I'm trying to like mm-hmm. Talk to them.
 If they're of non-English speaking,
 I will always bring a translator.
 I have had one occasion where I did have the parent
 or the patient's partner, I mean, tell me
 that I didn't wanna use the translator.
 And I was like, yeah, well I just need to make sure
 that I get that off of her and I'm gonna use the translator.
 And, you know, she, she didn't decline it,
 so we just kind of kept talking.
 Um, other signs that you're seeing are obviously bruises.
 I, I hope I'm not—trigger warning,
 just let's just throw it out there
 because we are gonna talk about, um, abuse.
 Um, I was raised really poor
 and my mom went through physical, sexual
 and emotional abuse.
 So those are signs that I experienced myself
 for my mom, you know?
 Um, so I kind of would see too, as they're changing,
 you're helping them change, they got
 bruises, bite marks, right?
 You're seeming a little bit more coy.
 Um, so those are like some things that, things
 that can like start triggering for you.
 Um, cases of domestic violence.
 Um, there was a patient, I remember that she came in,
 I'm not gonna say what state.
 I remember this case where she came in Beto demise.
 And, um, in short, one
 of the nurses there was telling me the story
 and I was like, girl, this doesn't seem right.
 I was like, did you involve social worker?
 Because she was saying, she's like, yeah,
 she's got bruises like in her abdomen.
 And she said she fell.
 And I'm like, NAS, I go, I'm telling you right now,
 get social worker involved.
 And, um, that patient didn't wanna, um,
 I'm trying just to be careful.
 That's why I'm just like being hesitant with the story.
 It's okay. She didn't essentially, she just didn't want to
 out her partner, right?
 Because at that point we're gonna be involved in the cops.
 Um, but yeah, you know, like that too.
 That's the hardest part is when you are dealing with, uh,
 patients that are in these really bad situations
 where like sometimes they don't want the help
 or they're just not ready to receive the help, right?
 Mm-hmm. Obviously when it comes to sex trafficking,
 that's a whole different situation
 'cause the social worker is being involved
 and you also have to be real careful with patients
 that are being thought to be sex trafficking
 because you have to keep in mind
 that both parents have rights of this baby.
 So this baby's delivered and he takes it or she takes it,
 but they go together and the state has not been involved.
 There's not a lot that the state can do.
 So you are have to, for a lack of better term, you're having
 to kiss ass a lot to this partner
 that you may be already upset at about what's going on.
 But you kind of have to play this like play the game to kind
 of keep everything as steady as possible so
 that finally we can get ev all our ducks in a row
 and kind of like lock it down essentially. Hmm.
 Wow. I kind of got hit in the face with
 that like a year ago.
 I think I mm-hmm. Encountered this situation,
 but I was so pro, like, it's whatever she wants.
 Like it's her body, it's her birth, it's her decision.
 And it wasn't until I was like talking more
 and more with my colleagues and someone was like,
 but what about the baby?
 Where what about the baby? Like the baby's rights?
 And I was like, oh. Like it was a mess
 where it ended up being like,
 cops went to their house after.
 And like, we ended up finding out it was part
 of like a huge traffic ring.
 Um, and the baby was able to, they were able
 to take the baby, but I,
 my natural like bundle birth itself is just like,
 they wanna go home one hour after delivery.
 It's, they're right. Like,
 Yeah. So I had
 to like kind and then
 after like putting all the pieces together, like, oh,
 why does he have multiple phones?
 Why is he always the one answering? Mm-hmm.
 He answers first—exactly what you're saying.

Like he didn't want her to use the translation phone.
 Like, things like that. Um, so interesting.
 One of the things that like I've had to notice as well is,
 and again, I learned this through travel nursing.
 I, I've now have traveled to over 21 hospitals. Whoa.
 Is that like, there's one thing to be like, Hey,
 this is like, she wants to go home because of this,
 but like, if something doesn't feel right,
 like everyone's got that
 sixth sense where you're like, mm-hmm.
 This doesn't feel right. Something's off.
 Like if you're like, if, if it's starting
 to like throw little like flags, like I always say,
 like lean into it a little bit more, try
 to get more information.
 Um, you know, it's just,
 but also too, like, you have to remember like,
 we are humans, right?
 How many times too that like cultural culturally,
 like cultures are very different, right?
 There's some cultures that are a lot more coy,
 they wanna be really covered up.
 It is like their partner is the higher hierarchy, right?
 You, you direct to him
 and it's like they may be in just a loving
 relationship, right?
 Um, but we are, we're humans
 and you know, like there has been times where like I've been
 with patients where I'm like,
 is there something going on here?
 And then it's like, no, it takes me a bit to be like,
 all right, all right, let's settle down.
 Like, no, she's good. Mm-hmm.
 Or like, I'll, I'll do my steps of like taking dad out,
 like, hey, you know, can get water,
 or Hey dad, now's a good time to go grab your stuff.
 Like now's a good time to go grab your spot.
 And I'm like really trying to take advantage of that, right?
 Mm-hmm. Uh, but we are humans
 and we have to give ourselves grace whenever.
 Like if things like slip up, right? Like I'm human too.
 I'm sure there's been times where like
 probably could have been better at catching something
 and I didn't, but you know, I'm human. Yeah.
 Yeah. I hear two things there.
 I hear one like, it's so important to get them alone.
 And so many of us are like, just like, yeah, they're fine.
 Like, you just see them and you're like, they're fine.
 Mm-hmm. I'm not gonna ask all the questions.
 And I struggle with that too
 'cause I'm so pro like the partner going into triage,
 I'm like, I would want my husband there.
 Like, I would want him with me. Like keep him with me. Yeah.
 Like it's good to separate them a little bit
 and then to like, just lean into your instinct.
 We, we tell our, you know,
 nurses all the time trust the instinct of our patients,
 but also trust your instinct.
 We were just on a call before you about research
 and how they say like, the spidey sense is
 like, it's like evidence.
 Yeah. There's evidence that that's a reason.
 Hi bundle birth nurses.
 We are putting together something totally different
 for season seven of happy hour with bundle birth nurses.
 And we want you to be a part of it For the first time ever,
 we're answering your questions, clinical, personal, funny,
 inspired by past episodes,
 whatever is on your heart and mind.
 Just head to the link in our show notes
 and leave us a voice message up to 90 seconds.
 And you may get to help craft season seven of the podcast.
 The earlier you submit,
 the more likely we'll answer it on the
 show by sending it in.
 You're giving us permission to share your voice on the
 podcast and possibly our socials.
 And we'll hear from you in season seven
 of happy hour with bundle birth nurses.
 I wanna know what you love about travel nursing.
 Like what made you stick it out and go to so many hospitals?
 What about it is the draw?
 For me, I'd be lying if I didn't say it was the money
 because babe, it was the money.
 Um, that was obviously a big draw coming in from Texas,
 but ultimately it started being also about friendships.
 It was so also, you're so non-committal in the sense
 of like, I can accomplish anything in three months.
 Again, I've talked about being poor, raised poor.
 I didn't get to travel outside of Texas
 until I was like mid twenties, you know?
 Mm-hmm. So it was fascinating.
 I love that I was able to go to whatever state I wanted to,
 any city that I wanted to.
 Um, making just, you know, 506 home,
 $600 more than I was making in Texas was just a drain to me.
 Mm-hmm. Uh, so yeah, it was like amazing. I loved it.
 Getting to see different practices was huge.
 Um, and again, yeah, like I don't have to go
 to staff meetings.
 I don't have to do like the seminars you guys were doing
 or like, oh hey, we have to do this.
 I was like, girl, I'm clocked out. I'm good to go.
 Like my days off were literally my days off. Hmm.
 Um, something that I love telling my friends about
 or like, you know, the younger nurses now, not
 that I'm like super old, but like I talk to younger nurses
 or people that wanna go into nursing.
 I go, girl, do it.
 Like, the money was so good at the time
 and I was like, I live such a selfish time and I loved it.
 Like, I hope I don't get hate about this,
 but I remember being in Seattle
 and uh, having my friend was doing an assignment in Alaska
 and just being like, Hey girl, can I go in like a month
 or like a couple weeks to go visit you?
 And she's like, yeah, sure.
 And just booking a trip to Alaska. Yeah.
 I would just book trips to Hawaii.
 'cause I had a friend there and I was like, yeah, sure.
 Mm-hmm. Like it was easy to jump there.
 And I, through traveling, I got to experience stuff
 that I would've never tried,
 like experienced had I been staffed.
 I have definitely lived an amazing, amazing life.
 Um, I tell people all the time, I can die tomorrow
 and I die a happy woman.
 'cause I have truly lived life to the absolute fullest.
 Like, and not a lot of people can say
 that. Mm-hmm. So, yeah.
 And is that because of the way
 that you spaced your travel assignments?
 Like, because you're on and then you're just like off for
 however long you want or?
 Yeah. Um, definitely when I first started traveling,
 I was doing like those back to back 13 weeks assignment.
 I think after year two, year three, I was like, girl,
 this is to the birds, you know?
 I was like, we need to start spacing out.
 Like let's get better about saving money.
 'cause that's a big thing when you're traveling is
 you wanna start saving money.
 'cause keep in mind, like you, if you're on vacation,
 you ain't getting paid for that sis.
 Mm-hmm. Okay. So like if it's between your assignments,
 like you're not gonna get paid for that.
 Um, yeah, I definitely took like anywhere from one
 month up to three months.
 I remember when I took that three month off, I went back
 to work, not because I needed money, but
 because I was bored.
 Like, how many people can say that? Yeah.
 I feel like a lot of travelers have that flexibility
 of just being like, all right, I need a break
 and I'm gonna take it whatever way I wanna take it.
 But keep in mind I'm getting paid. So again, pros and cons.
 Well, what are the cons? Definitely.

Well, you have that one year max, right?
 Um, you can't stay in a place for up to one year.
 I know there's, everyone's gonna talk about like their different way of how you're gonna do it.
 So I'm not gonna go into that.
 Talk to your CPA, talk to your tax person about that.
 Uh, but yeah, you can essentially, if you wanna extend past that year, you're most likely gonna try to have to go staff.
 Or depending on what you're wanting to do, there are some hospitals, um, if you're doing local assignments, where for local travelers you can only do a year max at that institute.
 And then after that you have to be gone from that institute for a year.
 So like if those nurses really loved this place, like at UCSD at the time, this was now three, three years ago, I think.
 Um, I worked with one of the local travelers and she loved UCSD and at the time she could only do a year max and after the year she had to leave for a year and she had to be like at a different hospital essentially.
 'Cause she's a local traveler and then she could come back.
 So that was like one of the cons, you don't have consistent health insurance, right?
 If you're wanting that consistent health insurance, you're paying a big premium.
 You're getting that, you know, uh, you're paying for that.
 You always have to have a savings account.
 I learned that the hard way.
 Listen, I was in my twenties, I was not very responsible.
 Living your best life is what I call that—living my best reckless life at times.
 Um, yeah. So you have to be careful with that.
 I have had assignments where like they do, they unfortunately get canceled, right?
 I've had it where like I did all the onboarding, all the training, got to the unit and been like, yeah, we're not gonna need you.
 Whoa. And you're just like, blank, blank girl.
 Like, I've already paid for my housing.
 I moved my whole, like, you know, I don't have a lot of stuff.
 I have just whatever fits in my Jeep Grand Cherokee, that's what's coming with me.
 Mm-hmm. Um, so yeah, like it's very unpredictable.
 The pay is unpredictable at times, right?
 I was a traveler pre-COVID, so I'm used to like these flux and uh, rates.
 Um, but yeah, like maybe this assignment you're making, I don't know, 2,600 a week right?
 Versus the next assignment.
 You wanna go to Hawaii and you're making 1800 whatever.
 I'm just throwing different ranges there, right? Mm-hmm.
 So like, it's not having that consistency.
 And also too, like I had to learn the hard way too is what if there is an emergency, right?
 Something happens to you. How am I paying for this?
 You know? Like I can't work, you know, you gotta like think about that.
 Yeah. And that's where the savings comes into place.
 But even though with all those cons, I love travel nursing, absolutely loved travel nursing.
 It was just the best, one of the best times in my life for sure.
 Do you think you'll go back?
 Oh, that's a super good question.
 For right now, I'm very content at where I am.
 But what I tell people all the time, and I feel like every traveler that I know that has now been staff, when we get together and talk, they say, listen girl, this is my job.
 I'm here to—whatever the reason is, and I know that if anything were to happen today, anything, I can leave and go back to traveling.
 Mm-hmm. And that's such a powerful move to know that like, yes, I'm here, but now I'm not completely locked down.
 Like if I, if I don't wanna stay, I don't have to stay. I can get up and go.
 Hmm. And like that's a very powerful thing to have.
 There's a lot of staff nurses that I've worked with that have worked at one hospital for years, no shade on that.
 And it's one thing to be there 'cause you love it and there's one thing to be there because you're scared, right?
 Mm-hmm. And sometimes as travelers, we would go to these places where like, I mean, you know, I have my top five worst hospitals, but there was a hospital I worked at where I was like, yo, this hospital's horrible.
 Like, you guys deserve better.
 And they're like, it is better out there.
 Yes girl, the pay is better. You can go somewhere better.
 And it was so nice. 'Cause at the time Facebook was a thing, right?
 To see these nurses that eventually, like, we inspired them enough to be like, you know what, I've had enough, I'm gonna leave.
 And now they're like much happier at a different, like hospital doing what they're doing.
 And that always brought me joy to see people level up and leave these toxic work environments.
 Mm-hmm. But yeah, I think that's a really good point in like, sort of wrapping it up that we have so many more options than maybe even we realize.
 Yeah. And a lot of times when like you're in one place, traveling seems so scary to like mm-hmm.
 Uproot your entire life.
 And like, I'm just gonna peace out and like, what do I do with my apartment and what do I do with all these?
 And like, how hard is it? And I have to find my own housing or they'll give me housing, but I hear it's cheaper to find your own housing and like yeah.
 All of those logistical things along the way.
 But once you figure it out, I think this is the case with anything hard, anything new that you come to find out that it's actually there.
 One, there are a lot of benefits and two, that it's actually a lot easier than we, than we think because we make it out to be so much harder in our brains than it actually is.
 I just, I was sitting here and you're talking and telling like so many little like snippets.
 It's like the little teaser where I'm like, wait a second, what happened there?
 And it just, what I get from you is so much depth of life experience and so much heart behind what you do and all of the hard things.
 Thank you for sharing that with our community and with us today.
 Because I think it's so easy to sort of just like glamorize that like, oh, they're traveling, they're in Hawaii and they're away.
 Yeah. And like, you know, and of course we got some pros and cons, but I think the heart behind what you do and all of the wealth of experiences that you've had, I just imagine what an incredible nurse that makes you and what, and how you can draw on those experiences now.
 That's what I'm seeing in my takeaway from learning from you in, in your experiences and even just like the little teasers that we've had of like that by traveling.
 What I'm taking is that you, it's provided you and it's sort of shaped you and given you depth and heart and perspective that there's no way that you would get any other way in nursing.
 And so what a, what a gift you are to this world. Thank you.
 And to our profession and to your current unit that now gets you like full time, at least for now.
 Yeah. And if you don't mind me, I would like to give you your own flowers, just so you guys know.
 In all the institutes that I worked with, it's been amazing seeing these young nurses come up and they talk about Bundle Birth a lot.
 You know, I follow you guys as well and I do little snippets.
 I am more of a visual learner myself.
 I take photos of that and I show 'em.
 Uh, but it's amazing to see these nurses learning not just from their educator, but from your amazing program Bundle Birth.
 You know? So I definitely keep encouraging you guys to do what you guys are doing.
 You guys are doing an amazing job.
 I'm not gonna lie, if it wasn't because of the amazing job you guys are continuing doing, I don't think I would've jumped in for this podcast, but when I was given the opportunity, I was like, yeah, let's just do it.
 I, you know, I follow you guys.
 You guys are doing an amazing job too.
 Mm-hmm. Thank you.
 Yeah. Well, we're in it together, that's for sure.
 And it's because of nurses like you and the ones that—even those of you that are listening that we don't ever see or have on a podcast or meet in person—that it's really because of the amazing work that everybody does and the hard work.
 And by hard, I mean physically hard, but also really emotionally hard work that people are showing up every day to do that work for our families that we care for.
 Thanks for spending your time with us during this episode of Happy Hour with Bundle Birth Nurses.
 If you like what you heard, it helps us both if you subscribe, rate, leave a raving review or share this episode with a friend.
 If you want more from us, head to bundlebirthnurses.com or follow us on Instagram.
 Now it's your turn to go and realize that we have so many options, that you're not stuck, and that traveling might be something that would be calling you into your future.
 We'll see you next time.