The Bundle Birth Nurses Podcast is Coming- Teaser Episode

We officially have an exciting announcement, what’s that? and that is, this is happening. We have been talking about creating a podcast for Bundle Birth Nurses for forever. It has been on our to-dos and we have set a deadline. And this is your official teaser for the podcast that is officially coming July 11 of 2022. Oh, you’re setting a date. We’re doing it. We gotta hold ourselves accountable. If you’re here already, you have somehow found this link and we are so grateful that you are a part of this community. And if you’re not yet, we wanna welcome you into the family. Because the point of the podcast at this point, we have so much going on with Bundle Birth nurses, but we felt like we were having all of these conversations, me and Justine, particularly while we were driving or we’d get vibing about a different article or a birth story or something that happened at work.

And we kept turning to each other and being like, this is a podcast episode. We need to have these conversations on a public platform to initiate those conversations with you, to help encourage you, and for all of us to learn together. And so we are here. We’re doing it. If you don’t know us yet, we wanted to introduce ourselves very briefly here for you to get to know us. You’re gonna continue to get to know us on this podcast, going into the future. So this is your opportunity to subscribe. So you never miss a future episode. We will be posting weekly, everything from resource review to storytelling to LA sounds. If you can’t hear that in the background, just get used to it. We are based in LA to, special guests, Yessss, education, random things that are on our heart. And this is not necessarily just clinical because while we love talking about birth, we love birth.

We love what we do. We also think that we are more than just birth. And so we wanna remind you that as we just have some conversations about things related to that. So in this little teaser episode, we wanted to let you get to know us, allow you to have the opportunity to subscribe. Tell us what you’re most excited about with this podcast. And then you can check out the description box down below and the links, particularly on the website for places to submit different conversations. You want us to have different ideas for the podcast, different guests you want on. Because the other thing that we found was we created a 12-month mentorship program. It was the year, of the champion… it was very hard. It was a very hard year, very worth it, very worth it, the best year of our lives to date, but also one of the most challenging years of our lives.

And so one of the things that we did in mentorship was called what we called real talk. And that was where we took the like formal education after all it was said and done. And me and Justine just sat down and had like a normal conversation about whatever the topic was, patient education or scary stuff or bullying or whatever. It was lots of options. And a lot of mentees said it was their favorite part. Exactly. And for us, it was the easiest part. And we found that our energy kind of balances each other out. I’m like the loud crazy one. And Justine is like the mellow soothing nurturing one. You’re very nurturing too. I don’t feel like I am. And you’re very mellow and sweet in births too. Birthing Sarah is very different than Instagram, Sarah.

Yes. In fact, when my sister was giving birth for the first time, she’s like, I can’t have your energy in the room. I was like, oh, oh, I am not normal, Sarah at a birth. I am Zen Sarah <laugh>. So along the way we found that those real talks were very helpful. And so we wanted to sort of duplicate that idea, that process, and just have conversations and allow you to flow. We hope this is encouraging to you on your drives to, and from work. If you’re having a hard day, we hope to bring you happy. Even if we’re talking about hard stuff and we are not afraid of talking about hard stuff, we’re not afraid of being real, but this is also sort of one of those outlets where you’re gonna get to know us in a different way. And in ways that I really think that we are not allowed to be, or it’s just kind of hard to be on social media, through photos or like little stories or whatever, but you’re gonna learn how we are in like normal life.

This is not formal class. If you come to one of our formal classes, <laugh> they are different. This is just nurse-to-nurse conversation. Another goal I have for this podcast is to be a safe person. I always say that, but I think too, it can be isolating on our units when we’re so excited and love our jobs in some units, we have to like, pretend we don’t love it as much as we do <laugh> I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that. Right. Uh, but you just seem a little too much. I didn’t, and that was the downfall. Yeah. Right. So I want, if you are someone that just is obsessed with your job, loves what you do. Maybe you just need some people on your side. I wanna, we wanna be those people for you. We wanna be your hype girls in your car on your way home, on the way to, while you’re getting ready, just to be there and be your friends.

And if you’re feeling burnt out, I will say, I have been there. I remember a point where in my career where I said, I don’t care if I ever see a birth again, like I’m over it, which that’s when you know that it’s time for a change. So if you’re one of those people, I think that this hopefully is a safe space for you as well to go, oh, there are people that really care. And, oh, there are people that not only care about what we do but also care about you. And that’s what we want you to take away too, that like, we actually care about you. <laugh>. And honestly, I said this today on a call with a hospital, but we can sit behind a computer. We can film a class or create a product or, you know, get on a mentorship call.

But if you don’t take it and put it into action with families, these are actual lives on the line here, then I’m done <laugh> and you guys are doing it. Exactly. You’re doing the change. We get messages all the time. We get the stories. Not only from you guys, but your colleagues, your midwives, your doctors, and patients’ messages and your managers, by the way, we, I talked to one this morning. So people are seeing the impact that you’re having. And I think when you feel small and you feel like one person, both of us relate to that, that it feels like there’s a huge, vast world out there that like, oh, there’s so much to do and so much work. But one of the things I say in our physiologic birth classes that like each one of us are the little lights, the clinical champions on our unit.

And slowly but surely we start challenging the culture and we make things better. And that’s what we all want. Right. That’s what we want for you. And we know that’s what you want for not only your, your work lives, but also your regular lives. So that’s what this is about. So no small feat. Yeah. I know. We’re not small thinkers around here. I am most definitely not like to the point where actually my mom said the other day, she was like, wow, I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who really truly doesn’t have any limits in their mind. I’m like, no, what’s that about like, who? Who needs limits? That’s no fun. So, I mean, it’s a testament to how you’re raised and your mom. I know, right? I know I’ve outgrown my mother in that way.

So Justine, tell us just a little snippet about you for everyone to get to know you a little bit more. If you don’t know Justine yet. Hello. My name is Justine. I’m a labor and delivery nurse and the director here at Bundle Birth nurses. I am from Southern California, about an hour outside of Los Angeles. I’m a mom, I’m a wife. I have a tiny little farm. I have a full-on goose that I’m raising right now. If you’ve never heard this story of how Sarah and I met, I actually have this like trait about me that I, stalk people on the internet. I’m just very verbal about it. So I had like a lot of labor and delivery nurses online in my, you know, in my queue that I was looking at watching and I was watching Sarah a lot.

And I was like, this girl, like I gotta meet her. I gotta get her to agree to meet with me long story short. She did. And we hit it off right away. And we dreamed the first night we met wrote goals on the whiteboard that are still there that I’m looking at right now that are actually coming to life, which is really exciting. And the rest is history. I was officially hired on in October of 2020. And it’s been fast and furious ever since if you have ever messaged us on Instagram with the Bundle Birth Nurses, Instagram, you are talking to me. I started tracing Tuesday, which was on a whim and that has gone really well. It is a beast, I started, uh, the hashtag team underwear. If you know what that is, we’ll talk about that in future episodes, too, that was on a whim.

It’s just been so inspiring for me because I was very lonely as a new labor and delivery nurse. I was isolated and I wanted more and I wanted more for our patients and I wanted more for us. And it has just been an amazing journey to be able to do that. And so I feel very lucky and I’m excited to get to know all of you guys and share my thoughts on this podcast with you. Ooh, LA LA ULA, LA ULA, LA. Sarah, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself? Well, my name’s Sarah Lavonne. I live in Los Angeles. I was born in Minnesota and then I grew up there and in Ecuador. So I graduated high school in South America, which I’m just so grateful for. And I feel like has given me a different perspective and kind of helped me be a bridge throughout my life.

So, my family, actually my sister and her husband and baby soon-to-be plural babies live in Ecuador. So I occasionally get to go down there about once a year. And then my family, my parents are in Minnesota. So I’m kind of all over the place all the time. I have lived in Los Angeles for over 15 years. I graduated high school, came here, went to nursing school, and have held a million and one different roles and titles throughout nursing. And then eventually quit my job in October of 2017. Yeah. And started Bundle Birth. And that we can talk about in a future episode if you want. So if you wanna hear the inside scoop of all things, first of all, we wanna know what that, what you want to hear. So let us know in the comments, but otherwise, we can talk about that in a future episode.

Anyway, quit, my job started Bundle Birth with really the goal of, and, and really believing that education and support are sort of milestones and keys to changing people’s I’m gonna say lives. But particularly in the obstetric space, I just was like, that’s my heart. That’s my love. That’s what I’m good at. And so I wanna help people have better birth experiences and avoid trauma and start a YouTube channel that, you know, kept growing over the last few years. Still do that. And then, obviously Instagram, but I always knew. And the, and the script is, you’ve definitely heard this if you’ve done anything that we’ve done, you’ve heard this story before. But, there were a couple of things that happened. One, when I was in the hospital, I felt like I had maximized my reach from the inside out and decided that it was time to go and try to make a difference from the outside which sort of pushed me over.

I, you know, you kinda get to a place where I felt like I had done a lot and was kinda like, how do I keep growing? And I get bored really quickly and I learn very quickly. And then I like to challenge myself and I sort of didn’t know where to go. So there was that. And then on this side of, of patient education, I was teaching all these families and connecting literally all over the world with families and they’d show up to the hospital and the nurses would, you know, kind of poopoo upon whatever their birth preferences were, whatever they had taught that was evidence-based and was up to date and all of that. And so, nurses obviously have always been my heart. I was a preceptor. I’ve done tons of education with nurses with doulas and then actually was managing a childbirth and parenting education program.

So nurse, a whole team of nurses that educated the public in Los Angeles. And so, and the peer mentor. Oh yeah. And then I also developed a peer mentorship program that was mentoring new nurses once they got off orientation. So you’re with a preceptor for like however long it is. And then I would take them over for the next year and mentor them on like a, a little bit more hands-off basis than a preceptorship, but had them go through a whole process and stuff for that. So, you know, nurses have always been my heart. Education’s my heart connecting is my heart. I really believe in living your best life. That’s one of the things we say around here all the time, like don’t waste your life and then live your best life. And so I, you know, when you think about it’s like, I can tell families till I’m blue in the face, what to do, they show up the nurses against it or not with it or not willing to work with the family.

And so if I was really gonna make a difference, how many patients does one nurse touch every year, let alone a career. And then you multiply that by however many hundreds of nurses there are out there. I was like, if, if we’re gonna make a difference, this is where we have to go. And we even calculated right. Our first physiologic birth class. Yeah. We calculated that those nurses would, could reach a million patients in just that year. Yep. That’s insane. Which nuts, you know, and, and that’s where like a million views on YouTube is awesome, but you’re actually looking them in the eye and holding their hand and telling them they’re worthwhile and validating their experience and helping them avoid trauma and all that. And so it was very clear to us. And then I met Justine where I was like, oh, wait, I don’t have to do this alone.

This is amazing. And we just vibed so beautifully in our missions and our hearts. And also like, I think we complement each other really well in our skills and giftings. And so, that was where the beginning of Bundle Birth nurses was kind of birthed out birth birthed out of our relationship. Yeah, I guess really? Yeah, and we’ll actually what we can talk about what’s on the whiteboard that can be a sneaky preview for a future episode. Anyway, so we vibed, and then that was when I developed the physiologic birth class and we did a live training in LA in January of 2020. And that, you know, obviously COVID has been really challenging in so many ways. That’s partially why we’re here for this podcast because we just, we know it’s been hard and we believe that you should live fulfilled thriving lives.

And so, we wanna bring you happy. That’s why we call this happy hour. But, I think that COVID has been really hard was what I was saying, but COVID for us kind of forced us to be really innovative and find ways to connect virtually, which really expanded our reach, utilizing all the online platforms and virtual classes and on-demand classes. And the fact that I had like all of the equipment for a YouTube channel that we could just use with all the skills and the resources from YouTube to apply to nurses. And so, Bundle Birth nurses over the last year has just been thriving and it feeds my soul. It keeps me going, as hard as, you know, the year of mentorship was, and as hard as it is to really run a business. And by the way, nurses, like I’m still a nurse and I still only have a nursing degree.

And so there’s an element of like flex and flow that I live by when you’re trying to figure out how to be an entrepreneur and how to grow a team and how to, you know, be profitable and help people pay their bills. That’s how many lawyers do you have on, oh my God. Like five. Yeah. You know, actually I think six and, you know, and those kind of things you live and learn. And I have just, gosh, I’ve learned so much. If you want anything business, I can talk business all day, but I’m still a nurse at my heart. And so, you know, as hard as that’s been, it’s you that push us to keep going, it’s you that is the reason why we’re here, because we believe so deeply in the impact that you make every single day in the opportunity that you are afforded every single day at work.

And also we believe that when you are better, when you are healthier, when you are, taking care of yourself when you’re connected to others, that will carry into the care that you give at the bedside. And your life is not all about the care that you give at the bedside, but you spend three of your, at least three of your seven days and 12 hours full days of those with families. And so that can be really taxing. And I know that. And so again, that’s why we’re here. We wanna encourage you and come alongside you and, give you a little, a little booster for your life. So July 11th be prepared. We’re launching our first podcast, I guess. I can’t say first, this is like basically an episode. Let’s be honest. Yeah. So our second podcast <laugh> so we actually have a giveaway related to this podcast.

If you follow us on Instagram, we every year do a really fun nurses week. And so in celebration of nurses week, we asked you what you wanted. Everybody wants to come to Cancun, which we get it. We wanna see you there. So if you don’t know already, we are getting together with 400 L&D nurses from literally all over the world for our very first, hopefully not forever, but we don’t actually know. This might just be a onetime thing that you will have major FOMO if you don’t come. And that is a learning retreat in Akumal, Mexico, which is you’d fly into Cancun from May 18th to 23rd, 2023. We wanna see you there. We wanna hang out. I’ll be teaching on physiologic, coping, Krysta’s coming. Justine’s gonna do a live tracing Tuesdays. They’ll be fun breakouts. We’ll give you plenty of time for the beach and snorkeling with the sea turtles.

That yes are right in front of the resort. And so we have all these fun things up our sleeves to spoil you and help you have the most refreshing life-giving, also very enriching experience in Mexico, but we wanna give away one ticket to Mexico. There are a million ways to enter, and yes, we’ll be adding them up from all the different ways. So a couple of things, we want you to subscribe to this podcast, subscribe to this podcast and share it to your story. Tag us on your story. We are tallying those names. The second thing would be to rate the podcast. Then you’re gonna share that on your story as well. On Instagram tag us. You can comment down below that will enter you in for five entries for this free ticket, double occupancy, to Cancun, Mexico for the learning retreat. We also have a YouTube channel.

So if you wanna listen on YouTube, that’s sort of your platform of choice. You wanna put it on, on your TV or whatever. It will only be audio, but feel free to subscribe on YouTube over there, and then comment down below. You will also get an entry over there. All of those ways will enter you into the drawing for one double occupancy ticket, two Cancun. If you’ve already purchased, we will refund you the entire ticket. The only thing you have to cover is your flight. And we will hang out. We’ll get to know you. We will make all sorts of memories and take tons of photos and eat good food and live our best lives. Snorkel. Sarah’s obsessed. I’m obsessed. Can we please go snorkeling and go find the stingrays and sea turtles? Every time I went snorkeling in front of the resort for free, I saw all of them and they’re so sweet.

One last thing. You can also find our podcast over on our new website. We have so much going on over there on-demand classes, physiologic, birth classes, mentorship opens quarterly. And so you can check out everything we offer, including also, I forgot about our products. We have all sorts of like teaching tools and all the things hand-on over there. And then that’s where you can access this podcast on everywhere you can find, and you listen to your podcast. So head on over there, there will also be a written transcription of the podcast. If you’re more of a visual learner and you wanna read everything afterward, it’ll be there for you to access. If you want more from us, you can reach us at @bundlebirthnurses on Instagram and you can find the podcast on all the major platforms to find podcasts. So iTunes, Spotify, Google. If there’s a platform that you want us to put the podcast on, just let us know and we can add it. And then YouTube, if you would like to listen to this podcast on YouTube, we have a YouTube channel where you can listen in on and you can watch that way. And so thank you so much for tuning in. If you are still here, make sure to enter into the Cancun giveaway and come back on July 11th for the first official happy hour with Bundle Birth nurses podcast.