Daughters of a Nurse- Kendra and Hannah Oliveira

[00:00] Michelle: As Kendra and Hannah Oliveira discuss their shared experience as the daughters of NICU nurse Cheryl Oliveira, you get the distinct feeling that they didn't miss out on anything. In fact, I would say their lives were enriched in many ways. The American novelist James Lane Allen said adversity does not build character, it reveals it. Kendra, a future nurse, and Hannah, a journalism major, reveal their characters as they remember their childhood experiences of being awakened in the cold, dark hours to be taken to daycare, celebrating birthdays and holidays while their mom worked. And that their very present father, Tom, took them to visit Cheryl at work, where they saw her in action and grew to appreciate her professionalism. I'm not going to lie in the five-minute snippet, my audio got a little sketchy, but the girls sounded great. And you just might get emotional like I did, when you hear how their parents' relationship inspires them. Here are Kendra and Hannah Oliveira. You're listening to the Conversing Nurse podcast. I'm Michelle, your host. And this is where together, we explore the nursing profession one conversation at a time.
[01:22] Michelle: Well, good morning, ladies.
[01:25] Hannah: Good morning.
[01:28] Michelle: Welcome to the show. I've been so excited to have you both on. There has been a myriad of scheduling difficulties because you're both busy college students and traveling the world and all that stuff, but I'm glad that we finally got together. Welcome and thanks for being here.
[01:48] Hannah: Yeah, thank you so much for having us. We're excited to see what we're going to talk about.
[01:52] Michelle: Hannah, tell me a little bit about yourself.
[01:56] Hannah: All right, I am 21 years old. I just turned 21 in May, and I am going into my last year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I'm studying journalism and I am set to graduate next June, so I'm really looking forward to that.
[02:13] Michelle: That sounds really fun and a little bit scary to me. But you don't sound scared at all.
[02:21] Hannah: Yeah, I'm a little nervous about what is going to happen post-graduation, but Kendra has a set plan of what she's doing and I admire that, but I'm also excited to kind of have a lot of options, so I'm looking forward to it.
[02:39] Michelle: Okay, what's your focus in journalism?
[02:42] Hannah: At Cal Poly, we have a news track and a public relations track, and I'm on the PR track, so a little bit more communication and marketing emphasis as opposed to just reporting.
[02:55] Michelle: Okay. I love it. Kendra, tell us a little bit about yourself.
[03:01] Kendra: Hi, I'm Kendra. I'm 23. I am currently in nursing school. I will be done on November 18, and I'm counting down the days. I currently work in labor and delivery, which is where I hope, fingers crossed, will be working when I graduate. And I love my job. I cannot wait to be a nurse, and I'm just so excited to be done with this hard chapter and looking forward to the next one.
[03:29] Michelle: Well, that's a lot. That's exciting. I just interviewed a labor and delivery nurse, Christine Daniel, you might know her.
[03:38] Kendra: Yes, I'm familiar with her.
[03:41] Michelle: Such an interesting aspect of nursing, so congratulations. That's really very nice.
[03:48] Kendra: Thank you so much.
[03:49] Michelle: So you ladies are here today, you're sisters obviously. And you're here because we're talking about the children of nurses. And your mom is a nurse, your mom is Cheryl Oliveira. Did I see you guys say that your mom has been a nurse for like 30 years and change?
[04:09] Kendra: That is correct.
[04:12] Michelle: Wow, okay. That's quite a feat. And I've known your mom probably about twelve years, maybe a little bit longer.
[04:21] Kendra: I think she's been in Kaweah for 15 now. Okay, maybe closer to that. I don't know when you started over there, but she's been there for a good time.
[04:31] Michelle: She has, yeah. And I remember when she came because she was working over in Hanford.
[04:38] Kendra: Yes, for Children's.
[04:40] Michelle: Right. So she was like the nurse in the satellite unit over there. And when she came to Kaweah, what I remember about her just immediately was her skill level was just so high. She had so many skills because she was used to resuscitating those babies that needed to be transferred and maybe they would hang out in Hanford for a few hours while they were waiting for the transport team and were really sick. And she just had so many skills and so immediately I was really impressed with that and I was just also impressed with her humanity, I guess. Just a very down-to-earth person. Funny, so much energy. Sassy.
[05:32] Hannah: Does that sound like it must be genetic?
[05:35] Kendra: She's pretty cool.
[05:37] Michelle: That's so true. I see you guys too as that, very cool. Yeah. So I've been really proud to work with your mom for a lot of years. And of course, you know, we all talk about our kids and so of course I've learned a little bit about you both through your mom. But today we're going to talk in particular about the things that children of nurses experience as they're growing up in a household with one or both parents as nurses. So we're just going to jump right in and talk about some of those things. So one of the first things I wanted to ask you was to think about your childhood celebrations. So think about your birthdays and your things at school. How did that work out with your mom being a nurse? Did she miss some of those things? Talk about some of that.
[06:34] Hannah: One of the main things I remember when we were a lot younger, my mom worked nights for a little while. That was interesting. But we were young enough to where I'm not sure if it really had a huge impact because we got her during the day when she didn't have to work on the night before. So it was a little bit different. I would say we were really, really, really fortunate and mainly birthdays we got with her. And when she was working days, if we weren't with her during the day we would have dinner with her or spend the night celebrating. So I would say we're very fortunate and our dad is incredible so we have spent a lot of time with him but Kendra can speak on it on her own because she's older. She had a couple more birthdays with her than I do.
[07:22] Kendra: So I remember vividly when I was probably, I don't know, three to five years old and we were still living in Lemoore and I remember my mom, she would wake up super early. My dad was, I think he was in construction at the time and my mom would wake up early and take us to our cousin's house who would watch us throughout the day and I just remember those super cold mornings like my mom was making, she had to do what she had to do, we had to have child care or people had to watch us and so I just remember those mornings vividly. My mom only worked full time and you know, full time as a nurse is three days a week and every other weekend. So on the days that she had off we were very fortunate because we got to do so many fun things and birthday parties, they would just be either a weekend later when she had it off or stuff like that. But I do remember those mornings like my mom was sacrificing her sleep and she loves her sleep. She was sacrificing that we could get up early and take me and my sister to either our grandma's or one of our cousin's houses so that we could be somewhere safe where she knew someone would take care of us throughout the day. But when I was little, I vividly remembered those cold mornings of her getting us into her car before work because we still lived in the country and then we moved a lot as children, just like life and jobs and stuff. And so when we moved OK, and now we'll find a new place where we're going to go in the mornings. But it's been very nice because my dad's always had a very open schedule so we never felt like we didn't have like it was like, oh shoot, like who's going to watch the girls? There was always someone that was willing to take us so it wasn't like our mom was too busy for our life, it was just the days that she worked. Okay, we're going to go hang out at Grandma's house. And it was really nice. I felt like she was very present.
[09:24] Michelle: I agree, well you both are very lucky, and just hearing you talk about your experiences of like getting up really early in the morning and it's cold and you're being taken to a relative's house, that's real for so many nurses. It was definitely real for me. I had to get up very early and take my daughter to daycare or to my mom. So I like that you both are so positive about it.
[09:59] Kendra: So when we were little, honestly, I don't feel like I was missing her like she wasn't there because usually nurses don't work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day hopefully got to have her one of those days. And so we always have like a Christmas Eve tradition where we open PJs up the night before. And so that's something that since she worked day shift, we could always still do. But for Christmas Day, the days that she would work in the morning, it would still be my dad and we would just be like, oh, we'll send a picture of our gifts from Santa to mom and you get to celebrate tonight at dinner. It wasn't ever like, oh, mom has to work today. Hannah and I understood at a very young age that that was Mom's job and she was going to miss a couple of holidays or a couple of birthdays or Character Counts or breakfasts and stuff. But my dad's job was very flexible to where he could always be there or our grandparents could always be there. We have a great relationship with both sides and so there was always someone there. So I felt like that helped a lot with not that we didn't miss our mom, but it kind of like, filled the hole a little bit, if you would say, for holidays and birthdays and stuff like that.
[11:17] Hannah: And one of the things same with having to get up early and take us to our aunt's house or our cousin's house or grandma's house with holidays, maybe in private to my dad, but she never complained about it. And again, maybe we're just really lucky with our mom and her situation, but she never complained about having to miss holidays, or Kendra and I were talking about before we started the podcast, that our mom's birthday is New Year's Day. So every few years she works not only a holiday but on her birthday. And she does it with a smile on her face. So I really admire it. And it's a twelve-hour shift, which a twelve-hour shift in the nursing world is not always 12 hours because you get there early and then you probably stay there a little bit later. And so I really admire that. She never made us feel like it was a big deal. She just did it and she does a great job, so we're very proud of her.
[12:22] Michelle: Yeah, I can hear that in both of you. I can totally vouch for your mom not being a complainer, I witnessed that many times. I worked with her on holidays, I worked with her on her birthday. Not a complainer at all. No matter what is going on, class and poise, and she always makes it look really easy. And I know it's not at all that you said was about your mom being present. And that's the other thing that I appreciate about your mom. She doesn't talk about missing out on or she's very present. That's just something that's really, really tough to do because we're people and we let things that are going on in our life sometimes creep in. And I just never saw that with your mom. And that's a skill that is really admirable. So thank you guys for talking about that.
[13:24] Kendra: Of course.
[13:26] Michelle: Did your mom, when you were sick, did she go to work? Did you go with relatives? And I know you guys talked about your dad. You talk about your dad a lot, and he's totally present in your life relationship with him, which you have to have, I think when you have a family and a partner and kids and all that stuff. But what happened when you were sick? How did that work?
[13:51] Kendra: So usually when we were sick, our mom would not call out of work. And I never took it as like, my mom doesn't want to take care of me, but we knew that she had to go to work, and so we would gather all of our stuff, either go to our grandma's house or a dad would stay home with us. But our mom, we knew that her job was very important, and we never felt like, oh, we're sick, we need our mom because our family was so present in our life. And I think that that is so important because we didn't have that missing her. And when kids are sick, they just want their parents or their mom to take care of them. But we had such a great support system around us that it wasn't too difficult for us to be like, OK, we're sick. We're going to go to grandma's house.
[14:46] Michelle: Yeah, I mean, that's a really important delineation to make. You guys may have heard the term, it takes a village, but it really does. When you have one member of your family that both members of your family are working, you have to figure things out and be close with all your extended relatives and everything. It just takes a village to care for you. So I like that you made that, that you pointed that out.
[15:16] Kendra: And I also think it's important to say, like, Hannah and I may have not known if our mom had called out of work. Maybe we were too little, and maybe she did make those sacrifices to her boss, hey, I need to call out because my daughters are sick today. But I also think that that's important because my mom didn't make us feel like, oh, my gosh, I had a call at work because you guys are sick, you know, that type of thing. I think that's very important too. So maybe we were little enough that we didn't realize that that's what she was doing. I think it's kind of a combination of both.
[15:50] Michelle: Nurses only have so much sick time, holiday time. Here's what happens. You stay home with your kids to go to work sick. And of course, nobody likes that. They don't want you to come to work sick, but it kind of puts you in a bind, especially if you don't have anybody if you don't have a husband or anybody helping you, and you just, needs to change with institutions. What do you guys think about that?
[16:16] Hannah: I agree 100%. And something else that's going off of that. I know we're talking about children of nurses, but something that my dad does for my mom, whether Kendra and I were here or not, the support system of a nurse is so important, whether it's friends or family or a spouse. My dad still, of course, could say something about his love for my mom as opposed to his job as a nurse's husband, but he still gets up at 4:15,  4:30 to make sure that she has breakfast every morning. And he makes her a protein shake or tea for the road or a coffee sometimes. And that is what I've always admired and obviously as girls, it's raised our standards for spouses in our life. And he also, like, took us to the unit and we would take coffee to my mom or flowers to my mom or, you know, if they were having a little potluck, we would bring the food in the afternoon. And I just admired that my mom wanted us to come to the unit and I loved seeing her in action. That was always really cool, especially in a specified unit like the NICU, where it's really specialized and every nurse's work is so important. But seeing my mom in the NICU was really great, and we have both my mom and my dad to thank for that. So it's definitely, you're correct, it does take a village. Whether it's about us kids or not, it definitely does take a lot of support.
[17:53] Michelle: I absolutely hearing you talk about your dad. That relationship is so important for you and your dad and also for obviously your mom and your dad. Did you guys know about how babies were made, like at an earlier age than most kids?
[18:10] Hannah: Talk about that that's a great question. I don't know if Kendra feels the same way. I never really had a conversation, a breakdown of how it all happened, but I do remember from very early on, my mom and a lot of it goes over my head still to this day. But Kendra is very obviously about to be a nurse and she won't say it, but she's very talented at it as well. I think that part is genetic. But my dad and I, are not very familiar with a lot of it. We've learned a couple of things. I know what a PICC line is and I know a few things, but I'm not familiar with the technical things. My mom just spoke really honestly about it and really just gave us the information and I feel like I know possibly more than the average person about certain things, whether in labor and delivery or in the hospital system or in the medical field, because she really wanted us to understand it. And like I said, going to the unit, we were really lucky and got to just be in that environment and understand how the hospital works. So although I don't know if we ever had a sit-down talk on how babies were made, I definitely know that we got a lot of information early on, maybe more so textbook as opposed to parenting child conversations.
[19:38] Michelle: Right.
[19:39] Kendra: I remember when I was in, I think 6th or 7th, maybe a little earlier, my mom didn't sit me down and have the talk, but she did tell me she kind of scared me, like, showed me all the bad things that can happen. I think that was coming from her nurse brain, and I mean, the population that she takes care of in the hospital, a lot of young girls and relationships and just a lot of support systems like, you know, that this is what happens if you do this, and these are the bad things that can come out of it. I think that when she sat me down and told me those things.
[20:17] Hannah: I was like, oh, okay, that makes sense.
[20:21] Kendra: So I think that her being raw with Hannah and I about topics like that, not even like how babies are made, but anything in general, I mean, sickness and cancer and all of those things we had experienced, other people in our family or people that we knew go through some hard things like that. And I think that was her coming as a nurse saying, well, I'm just going to teach them how it is and we'll help them get through it if they need to work out their emotions or anything like that. So I think just being open and honest and just telling us how it is with her approach on it.
[21:01] Hannah: Just one little thing that came to mind, something that I experienced. I don't remember much of it because I was so young, but I was born with Craniosynostosis, and even as a five-year-old, maybe I learned how to say the word properly, but I really did learn about what that was and how my corrective surgery helped me and what the birth defect was. Kendra got a really good presentation, she put together for one of the Children's Hospital day,  at Kids Day at one of our schools. And I don't know, learning about that. And then also, this is a little bit more of the personal side, but my mom telling me the experience of knowing how much she knows and sending her child at three months old into however many hours surgery, hearing her side of that, of knowing what this is and it's your own child, was really incredible. But also, even though she knew that that was happening to me and that I was experiencing that surgery. She deals with that. Maybe not that specific case, but she deals with stuff like that every single day. Granted, they're other people's children, but I think that she takes her job so seriously and holds her work at such a high value that she treats it as if her child were in the operating room every time she goes in. So a little bit wordy, but kind of just something that came to mind.
[22:40] Michelle: That's really valuable information. Thank you for sharing that. She's lived it. She's had that fear. She's seen her daughter go to surgery and not knowing what's going to happen and yeah, man, I just got chills, like, listening to that story. Yes. Did your mom ever gross you guys out with talk about medical stuff?
[23:05] Kendra: I'm actually laughing out loud right now because my mom always talked about work at the dinner table because it was the time to vent. When you get home, me and my dad and sister, mostly my dad, have made dinner, and we're all there just venting. My mom's like, today was a really hard day. We had this and that. And my dad is not one to handle it.
[23:33] Hannah: No, he can't hear any of it. He's over it.
[23:38] Kendra: I just think it's really funny because my mom still would talk about it, and I had, like, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I was waiting for every word to come out of her mouth, it intrigued me so much. And Hannah and my dad are over there, like, almost trying out to gag.
[23:53] Hannah: Our food is on the two sides of the table.
[23:58] Kendra: And it's definitely still happening because now that I work in labor and delivery, I still live at home with my parents. Hannah's away at Cal Poly, so it's just us three. And so my poor dad has to hear not only my mom's day but also my day. And I feel like my day is a little more graphic than my mom's because of what I do.
[24:20] Michelle: All right. I have to have your dad on, he sounds like a gem.
[24:28] Hannah: He's quiet, but he's hilarious, and he's the best. We're so fortunate with our parents. They're such a great duo. They balance so well with both their careers and their personality. My dad's so supportive, and he's just as proud, if not prouder than Kendra and I are of my mom. So we love hearing his point of view as well.
[24:58] Michelle: I love it. My mom and dad raised six nurses in our family.
[25:04] Kendra: Oh, my gosh.
[25:06] Michelle: And my dad was also like your dad, he would just turn green at the table and start gagging and have to leave the table. And we started talking, as all nurses inevitably do, start talking about those kinds of things. So gosh, that made me laugh. What about are either of you germophobes because your mom is a nurse?
[25:32] Hannah: I think I'll talk about him again, but I think our dad helped with that. We grew up being in the country and stuff, and some things I don't really like to share straws with Kendra, but besides that, maybe not toothbrushes. Yeah, not straws, or toothbrushes. But besides that, I think that it's a mix of being aware and, you know, like, take care of yourself and be clean, but also that germs are normal and kind of that balance. But I wouldn't say that she made us any more than the average person, afraid of germs.
[26:05] Kendra: I think it's kind of funny, though, because when we were younger and we would be messing with our hair or fixing our clothes or whatever, and then we'd go and, like, touch the hand towel or something, my mom would be like, go take it to the laundry room. You just touch dirty hair or your foot or whatever. So I think that in that way, not a germaphobe, but she is very hyper-aware of certain things, and she's taught us to be like that as well. So I think that is the type of way that she kind of emphasized cleanliness in our home.
[26:42] Michelle: I love that. Yeah. Gosh, I can just see myself doing all those things that you're talking about, and I think, oh, my poor daughter, what I put her through. Yeah, I would say 100%. So your mom probably taught you and your dad, I'm sure, to advocate for yourself.  Do you think that you're more opinionated or more outspoken because of your mom being a nurse?
[27:14] Hannah: As the less outspoken one. Kendra and my mom, we have a joke in our family. Kendra and my mom are absolutely twins, and my dad and I are 100% twins. We're a little bit more mellow, definitely quieter, and we're early birds. And my mom and sister are night owls. They are opinionated, and they can carry some volume when they get they feel very passionate about what they're talking about, no matter what it is. So I definitely believe that she's encouraged us to advocate for ourselves, especially when I went off to college, going to doctor's appointments. I struggle with anxiety and constantly reminding me to actually tell the doctor what's wrong and speak up for myself. Kendra doesn't really have a problem with that. She had it, and I really admire it, and I'm not sure if it's I think it's probably a good balance of the way my mom was raised and the way she raised us, as well as she has to do the same in her work environment. Like you said, she's a Charge nurse, which holds some authority, and hopefully, I think everyone agreed that she does a great job in her authoritative state. So I think that that's definitely been something we've seen in her and Kendra has learned from her.
[28:35] Kendra: I agree with what Hannah said, and I do think that I know for a fact that ever since I was a little girl, I either wanted to be a special needs teacher or a nurse. And I loved science and stuff, so I did take the nurse route. And at a very young age, it was solidified that I wanted to be a nurse. So I think my mom knew that and understood that, and she knew that we were twins. And she always taught me, you need to stand up for yourself. You need to speak your mind. Like, when you're angry, you need to tell people why you're angry. I mean, not just like explode or shut down or you know. I think that's very important, especially with me going into nursing, and especially, even on top of that, that I'm going into labor and delivery where these doctors aren't always in the room with the patient. You know, you're with them all the time. You're with them during their labor process, their delivery, their recovery, and you are seeing what these medications or how their pain tolerances, you're in the room with them. And so you have to be not only your patient's advocate, but you need to stand up for yourself, too. Like, hey, I'm not going to do those things because I don't think that this and this is right about it. And so I think in the nursing profession, it's very important to be an advocate for yourself and for your patients. And I think my mom instilled that into me.
[29:57] Hannah: She didn't have to do as much, but yeah, I think there was some genetics involved.
[30:02] Michelle: Well, you pointed out a really important lesson that of course, as nurses, we have to advocate for ourselves, and then we teach our patients every day to advocate for themselves in terms of asking for asking what they want from their physician, asking for what they need. You guys might know that in addition to being a nurse, I'm also a lactation counselor. And so many women don't know to ask their partner for what they need, to ask their doctor for what they need, and we teach every interaction. So that's a really important lesson mom taught you, and you guys are just going to carry that on?
[30:44] Kendra: Yes.
[30:44] Hannah: And as someone who is a little bit more shy, I'll speak for myself, but slightly on behalf of other people that deal with anxiety. We appreciate people that also want to advocate for us. Also in school, Kendra's always been the one to stick up for me. And even though we bicker a lot and we fight about a lot of things, we're also like, she's above everyone else in my book. So it's one of those things that I'm grateful that even if I don't, I'm not as outspoken. I'm also not going to nursing, so I think I can get away with it. But I'm really grateful that my mom and Kendra both have that quality in them.
[31:23] Michelle: How you speak about each other, I can feel the love and the closeness and the camaraderie, and it just must be so much fun in your house.
[31:33] Hannah: Yeah, we have a good time. We have a lot of fun. Especially now that I'm away at school. I'm going to my last year, but being away now when I do come home or when Kendra comes, she has very little time off in nursing school. But if she does come to the coast to see me, it makes our time together a lot more special.
[31:53] Michelle: That's cool. So with your mum being a nurse, did family and friends, were they always asking your mom medical questions?
[32:04] Hannah: Yeah, definitely. And we have a few cousins generationally between us and our mom. So they're starting to have kids and we have a few young cousins and definitely, questions come up. And because she's in a specialized field and every mom, I'm sure, is worried about what could happen and they want their baby to be as healthy as can be. So my mom definitely has given some advice, I believe all solicited. I don't think, she's not a very fishy person, so I think they're grateful for that. But yeah, she does get a lot of questions. She does have to reject some because she's not, she does babies. She knows how to take care of little tiny humans. And some of our adult cousins or family members will ask her questions that she, I'm sure she's qualified, but she chooses to play the "I work with babies" card, not adults.
[32:59] Michelle: Some things are definitely out of our scope because like you said, NICU care is so specialized we kind of forget. What about TV? Is it a lot different than in your house?
[33:10] Kendra: Yes. Me and my mom have watched Grey's Anatomy and like, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and so a lot of those I mean, Chicago Fire is actually pretty spot on, but the Grey's Anatomy sometimes some of the procedures and the doctors do all the care and I'm like, yeah, I don't think that's happening in real life. My mom and I always get a kick out of it because it's like, okay, yeah, that didn't really happen.
[33:35] Michelle: Right.
[33:36] Hannah: It's just funny you mentioned it because the layman's ear personally, even knowing whatever my mom told us, I wouldn't blink twice over the scene you described. So it's really funny seeing it from a different perspective. Yeah, that's awesome.
[33:52] Michelle: No, that's totally true. It's whatever your perspective is. So if something like Hannah behind the scenes or a broadcast or something and it's just totally fake, you'd be the first one to point that out. Right?
[34:09] Hannah: Yeah, it would definitely sound or look different. And because I'm not in medical, it's such a different language. So sometimes when my mom and sister are speaking, I feel like my dad and I speak Spanish together and they understand, but they speak back less than my dad and I do. And so when my dad and I are speaking Spanish, they're speaking their own medical jargon as well, so we each have our own languages.
[34:39] Michelle: Tell me your proudest moment as the daughter of a nurse.
[34:45] Kendra: Okay, so one time I don't know how old I was. I know I was old enough. I mean, this was pre-covid when you could still visit the units. My dad and I were, I think it was my dad and I were taking my mom coffee, and for some reason, my mom wasn't in the NICU. And so we went up to one of the nurses. We're like, hey, we're trying to take Cheryl this coffee. And they're like, oh, she's doing a PICC line on Peds. She's helping them out. So I'll walk you up there. And so me and my dad walk upstairs. I'm like, oh, my gosh, where am I? And the nurse, I don't remember who it was, but she walks us to the room, and my mom, like, peeks her head out the window, and she's dressed in, like, all sterile garb, and she's like, hey, I'm putting in a PICC line. If dad pick lifts you up, you can watch through the window. And I was literally in awe. My eyes were bigger, like oranges. Just seeing my mom do what I saw as young and a crazy procedure and just being so professional and smart was amazing to see. I know my papa, who's no longer with us, about to have the same experience, actually, when he went and took her something one day, and he came back home, and he was, like, in tears, and he was like, my daughter. He wanted it blasted on every billboard. And I think that that experience was just so eye-opening, and it just made me so proud of my mom. And now I get to work with her, and I get to see that all the time. So she continues to make me proud.
[36:31] Hannah: Yeah, she's so incredible. One specific memory for me doesn't well, a memory that is kind of I watched. It wasn't exactly me, but we've known so many people that when we're either in public or kinder. And I also used to love going to March of Dimes events with my mom. And at those events, we would meet parents of babies and they would come up with my mom, and my mom would remember them and give them a hug and remember their baby's name. And it was so incredible seeing how grateful they were for her. And recently, I believe it was this year, I was away at school, and sometimes some information slips through the cracks and social media finds out, like, my mom will post something before she tells me or something. And a baby that she delivered is now a nurse in her unit. And it was just so incredible. They took a picture, and they both posted it, and it was just the coolest, full-circle moment to see my mom experience. It was really, really neat and going along with what Kendra said, just seeing everyone around us, their pride and my grandpa that my sister talked about, my mom's, dad, he and I, my dad and my grandma, I think, kind of had a sports event or a cheer event. We got to go see my mom receive the Nurse of the Year award, and that was really incredible. So, Nurse of the Year, that's a big deal. And you might think that it's just another, we have to go somewhere tonight for dinner, but it was a really great experience. So definitely a prideful moment.
[38:16] Michelle: Nurse of the Year is a huge deal. Those nurses are chosen out of hundreds of nurses. I remember exactly what you're talking about with the patient that she delivered. And just seeing your mom the day on the unit for her orientation, and that whole moment, that whole experience. I love how you guys talk about your mom with such pride and such love, and this interview was so much more than I expected it to be. I want to thank you guys again, and are you ready for the five-minute snippet?
[38:52] Hannah: Yes, we are ready.
[38:54] Kendra: And thank you so much for having us.
[38:55] Hannah: Yeah, thank you so much for having us.
[38:57] Michelle:  My pleasure. Okay, I'm going to put my timer on, and if we go over a few minutes because there are two of you, right? But it's not called the Ten-minute Snippet.
[39:09] Hannah: We'll make it work.
[39:10] Michelle: There you go. Okay. So what were you doing when you found out you were accepted to your school?
[39:19] Hannah: I remember mine. My mom had taken me down to Long Beach, where she attended nursing school, and I had toured the campus, and it was the first big college campus I'd been to, and I wanted to accept to Long Beach immediately. And when I was on my drive home, we were talking about it. I called my grandparents and told them I was going to Long Beach. When we get home, I'm unpacking, and I got an email, and I'm not good at checking my email, so I heard the notification, and for some reason, I looked, and it was my acceptance to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, that was on a Monday night. Kendra drove me to Cal Poly that Friday. We visited our cousin, I toured the campus, and the next day, I accepted my admission. So it was definitely meant to be. But I was in the car with my mom when I found out.
[40:14] Michelle: I remember your mom talking about it, and she was pretty thrilled too, so that's cool. What about you, Kendra?
[40:21] Kendra: So I was actually at home. I had interviewed for a CVC for nursing school, and I was very nervous when I got a phone call from a weird number. I didn't hesitate to answer it. With tears in my eyes, they told me I was accepted to nursing school, and I couldn't be more happy. I was in my room. I think I was working on homework or something at the time. And it was just an amazing one of my best favorite phone calls I've ever gotten.
[40:51] Michelle: Did you guys ever have to leave a party because the police were breaking it up?
[40:58] Hannah: If our parents are listening, no, that's never happened.
[41:01] Kendra: Never.
[41:03] Hannah: One did come to mind.
[41:05] Kendra: I think it was the first party I took Hannah to in high school.
[41:09] Hannah: Yeah, another time I was leaving, the party the cops showed up. We had a sober driver and we were going out to the car and one of my best friend's dads was the cop that busted the party. I was in the town over, so I didn't think he would be there. So I kind of just smiled at him and he made sure I was good and I went home. So it was funny. No, we've never been to a party.
[41:37] Michelle: Never. Favorite country?
[41:39] Hannah: I just got back from London and it was incredible. It was my first time aside from Mexico, my first time out of the country, and it was a really life-changing experience.
[41:52] Kendra: And I got to go on a trip of a lifetime with my best friend and her family in the summer of 2019 to the Azores Islands of Portugal. We went to the island of Tresada. So it was amazing. And we got to spend, I think it was three weeks total, got to spend 4 July over there and one of their festivals that was happening. The trip made me speechless. It was amazing. The beauty, the fun, everything that we had, it was just so fun.
[42:25] Michelle: If you could sing a duet with anyone, who would it be?
[42:28] Kendra: That's hard. It's kind of funny because when I was little, I took singing lessons and my family knows that I literally sing all the time. Sometimes they're like, okay, Kendra, it's enough. You need to let the singer sing it.
[42:41] Hannah: I think if we had to do a trio song, I think that we would choose Carrie Underwood. That's what I was going to say. She's kind of the anthem of our childhood. It was our very first concert. We wore matching pink cowgirl hats to this concert.
[42:58] Kendra: Our parents surprised us, we were six and eight.
[43:00] Hannah: So if we had to do a trio, it would definitely be with Carrie Underwood, with our girl.
[43:06] Kendra: Carrie.
[43:07] Michelle: Whose relationship inspires you?
[43:10] Kendra: I think that we probably have painted the picture pretty well for you. But our parents, I would say my parents.
[43:19] Hannah: I agree.
[43:19] Kendra: My dad is one of the most selfless people ever and has definitely raised the standard for Hannah and I's future husband.
[43:28] Hannah: Husbands, plural. We're not sharing it. We have different tastes, so I don't think we'd be able to find one that worked for both anyway.
[43:37] Kendra: But our mom is a spitfire and energetic and outgoing and spunky and passionate. And our dad is selfless and caring and so kind. And I think that their match is  just so perfect,
[43:51] Hannah: And they just celebrated 25 years this year. So definitely it makes us have hope for, like, strong, long-lasting relationships.
[44:05] Michelle: What's something you do not say to your mother?
[44:15] Kendra: That we didn't do the dishes. Is the chicken out of the freezer?
[44:20] Hannah: The h-word. Never tell your mom you hate her because you can't get in the moment. It can't be true. Well, in our case, at least, I think that's an absolute. Or that you forgot something at the house and she has to bring it to you on her one day off that week.
[44:36] Kendra: That might be seven in the morning. To school.
[44:38] Hannah: Yeah. I used to air quotes and forget that I had a paper due the next day before I had my own computer, and I was not a quick typer typist. And I would read my paper out loud. And my mom, I felt like she was typing at the speed of lightning, would type up my papers for me and print them out at 09:00. She had work the next morning, and I had school the next morning. And she always did it, but she definitely rolled her eyes at me first. But I definitely appreciated it.
[45:10] Michelle: Thank you guys so much for being here and giving your perspective of how it feels and what it's like. Thank you.
[45:19] Hannah: Have a great weekend.
[45:20] Michelle: Take care.