Before epidurals. Before fetal monitoring. Before dad’s were allowed in the delivery room. There were nurses like Kathie Bartolo!

Before epidurals. Before fetal monitoring. Before dad’s were allowed in the delivery room. There were nurses like Kathie Bartolo!

In honor of National Nurses Week 2026, we are not just celebrating nursing…we are honoring the ones who built it.  The ones who showed up before all the technology…before fetal monitors…before epidurals…before charting lived in a computer.  Back in time, every laboring mom depended on the presence, judgement, and courage of the nurse in the room.  Steady hands, sharp instincts, and hearts that carried families through their most vulnerable moments.  On this episode we sit down with Kathie Bartolo, an 86-year-old OB nurse.  She is a 1961 graduate of Saint Francis Hospital School of Nursing, Peoria.  Her career spans generations of birth, decades of experience, and thousands of patients.   After everything she has seen, every life she has touched, one thing is clear.  Patients may forget the details, but they never forget how a nurse made them feel.  And maybe that is the legacy of nursing.   It is the human connection that carries people through the moments that matter most.  Kathie didn’t just witness the history in OB care…she helped shape it!  Stories like hers deserve to be heard. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2465123/fan_mail/new] OB Nurse Smart Talk

Perinatal mental health isn't a side conversation during the fourth trimester----it is the conversation.

The fourth trimester is the first 12 weeks after childbirth and is one of the most transformative and vulnerable periods.  While the baby is adjusting to life outside the uterus, the mom is navigating physical recovery, hormonal shifts, identity changes and emotional intensity all at once.   No one speaks about the Fourth Trimester as much as OSF St. Joseph Medical Center’s OB Nurse Navigator, Heidi Kim, who is certified in Perinatal Mental Health.  In this podcast we are joined by Heidi who helps mom’s, dad’s and birth partners navigate the emotional realities of the fourth trimester including post-loss.  She is on the front lines of what families are really going through and how to support them.  And she shares the steps that her healthcare colleagues would need to take in obtaining the Postpartum Support International Perinatal Mental Health Certification.  Postpartum mental health care isn’t optional.  It’s essential for mom’s, babies, and everyone around them.  So, if you take anything from this podcast let it be this: Check on mom. Check on dad.  Because their mental health is part of the fourth trimester. For more information contact: certification@postpartum.net  Postpartum Support International (PSI)  Call or Text PSI Helpline: 1.800.944.4773 Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2465123/fan_mail/new] OB Nurse Smart Talk

The "Why" Behind Functional Wellness

We sit down with the founder of Stronger Every Day – Soul Mind Body, LLC, a nurse practitioner owned practice dedicated to whole-person healing. Britney Durst, FNP, shares her journey from traditional healthcare into functional medicine and explains how addressing root causes, rather than just symptoms, can lead to lasting wellness. She explores what functional medicine looks like in real life and how caring for the soul, mind and body can transform patient outcomes. Britney shares the impact that the death of her brother Brandon from lymphoma, at the age of twenty-six, had on her and caused her to take a closer look and “dig” into what functional medicine can offer outside of traditional medicine. Whether you are a patient curious about functional medicine, a nurse practitioner considering entrepreneurship, or a healthcare professional interested in holistic, root-cause approaches, this episode offers insight, inspiration, and practical takeaways on creating a nurse owned practice that aligns with your values.  Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2465123/fan_mail/new] OB Nurse Smart Talk

One Last Push: When an OB Nurse Becomes the Gestational Surrogate

Before we begin, a gentle note for our listeners: this episode includes discussion of pregnancy loss and reproduction experiences. Please take care while listening. Labor and Delivery Nurse Cheyanne first heard the word “surrogacy” during a Parenting/Child Development class when she was a senior in high school.  She remembers telling her best friend about how she thought that “surrogacy would be a cool thing to do”.  Not long after her high school graduation she went on to carry an unplanned, uncomplicated pregnancy and deliver a healthy newborn son.   During her pregnancy, she became aware of a former high school teacher who experienced a term pregnancy loss.  Even as a teen mom she had the ability to understand that something important happened here where she was essentially “stepping into someone else’s shoes” to reflect on her teacher’s pregnancy loss and understand that not everyone who wants to carry a pregnancy is able to.  She thought that if she could carry her own pregnancy safely could she carry for someone who couldn’t.   She did not know it then but the contrast between her teacher’s loss and her own uncomplicated teen pregnancy experience would quietly shape her reproductive years ahead toward gestational surrogacy. This is Cheyanne’s story, of empathy that took root early, of care that became carrying, and what it means to grow a life for another family. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2465123/fan_mail/new] OB Nurse Smart Talk

Living and Working in Abu Dhabi.......Best Experience Ever!

Think of Linkedin as a Facebook for careers, but focused on professional growth, networking and job opportunities.   Imagine when a Headhunter from Linkedin contacts you and asks you the question “would you ever think about moving to Abu Dhabi”.  That is exactly what happened to nurse Cassie Horack, who was at that time living and working in Illinois and had never traveled outside of the United States.  Join us as we hear about her “leap of faith” and 15-hour flight to the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi as their new Executive Director of Quality and Safety just 1 month before the Covid shutdown in the United Arab Emirates.  Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2465123/fan_mail/new] OB Nurse Smart Talk