Returning to Travel PT with a Baby

You may have noticed we have been on quite the hiatus since our last blog post.  OOPS! The last few months have been a blur returning to travel PT with a baby… They have been a huge reminder of the extreme amount of flexibility required to juggle this crazy lifestyle while still managing to enjoy the ride!

 Just to give a little background: in February, Steve was issued his 30 day notice for his job in Kentucky (equivalent to being let go because the clinic found a perm PT). Fortunately, the end date came just days before we were off to Mexico to celebrate with many of our friends on the Club Core Med 2018 trip to Playa Del Carmen. Right after our return, our life in Kentucky was packed up and we took off on a cross-country road trip to our next contract location in California. Even with staggering our start dates by 1 week, it still seemed like a lot of adjustment with a 7 mo. old in tow!

 The Biggest Question 

What you all are probably wondering the most – and actually one of the most frequent questions I’ve been asked is – “What will it be like returning to work as a traveler?!”.  I’ll admit, this was a question that I asked myself many times during my 8 month maternity leave! I had many doubts and questions about how I would feel and adjust after taking so much time off – if I would even want to return to work, if I would remember my training as a PT, and so on.

Let me begin to answer this question by saying that I am extremely grateful for the career path we have taken as traveling therapists! In no other job could I take off for 8 months to focus entirely on my brand new child and ensure that Kinley got all the love and care that she required for the first part of her life.  She was basically a full time job around the clock! Given that I had no more than a few stretches of more than 2 hours of sleep at a time up until she was about 6 months old, the ability to take so much time off ended up being a lifesaver. Hats off to moms who want or need to go back to work after only 3 months!  And single mothers?!?!…blow my mind!

 Clinically, the transition of returning to contract work was no big deal. Just like riding a bike, it comes back to you! Sure the first few pedals are a little squiggly and the front wheel wobbles a bit until you gain your balance, but once you get in your groove you can ride that bike again no matter how long it was since you last rode.  The same with being a therapist: hands remember their techniques, note writing falls back into a rhythm, and the clinical thought processes are still there – maybe just need to be dusted off a little.

I loved my time with Kinley and will always look back on those first few months with gratitude. Just as you forget the pains of childbirth, somehow you also forget the stresses of raising an infant! She has grown tremendously since we’ve been here in California, and has recently been such a blast to hang out with, but some days I still miss my tiny little infant girl.

All in due time I was able to return to my profession as a physical therapist and it felt really good to get back to helping people and practicing my skills, and stretching my mind beyond the complexities of a babies schedule. I think this is the beauty of it and greatest take away – as a traveler, you have the power to choose when that timing is right and will work for you. 

The Hardest Part

I have always been in awe of my co-workers who are mothers.  I felt that they were superwomen – rock-star co-workers all the while managing the responsibility of children. How did they do it when I could barely get myself out of bed every morning on time? I often wondered what would be the hardest thing for me to manage when I returned to work after Kinley. Would it be waking up early for work after 6 months of nearly total sleep deprivation? Would it be juggling Kinley’s schedule for eating, sleeping, dressing, and changing in conjunction with my new work schedule? Or would it be focusing on my patients during the day, meanwhile thinking about Kinley in the back of my mind?

I’m not superwoman, but Kinley does have a “super dad” who is a huge help with getting Kinley up and managing all of our breakfast and lunch in the morning, all while downing multiple cups of coffee himself! Between the two of us, we have worked together to juggle the sitters. I definitely couldn’t manage a return to work without him.

Actually, none of the logistical issues (for me) were the hardest part of returning back to work after a long maternity leave. The hardest thing BY FAR was to entrust Kinley to any other person to care for her.

Prior to going through pregnancy and those early months of bonding I had always told myself, “we’ll just hire an au’ pair or a nanny and I’ll go on working”. But this is truly easier said than done.  Until you experience it, you have no idea the love and overwhelming sense of protection you feel for your own child! And relinquishing control of this most precious person has by far been the hardest part of returning to work as a traveling therapist. Will this be the hardest part for everyone? It may or may not. But surprisingly, for me, it was. And I’m sure this would have been no different if I had returned to work at a permanent job. 

It Can be Done

 For so many years, we have had people tell us how smart we are to have traveled before we had kids. Yes, this is true. But just having a kiddo does NOT mean that traveling has to stop! Unless of course, you want to… We always wanted to continue, but the question has been, “can we”?  Now with six full months of contract work behind us, I think it’s safe to say that YES! We can continue as traveling therapists, if that is what we choose. And for anyone else out there who is wondering the same questions that we did, I think the answer depends on you.  The wonderful part of the traveling life is that you get to choose your own path. And with enough determination, I’m sure that you too, can succeed!

Now with the confidence that this Travel Family can be successful, we get more and more excited to think of the future we have as traveling therapists, and the excitement –  along with the challenges – of bringing Kinley along!

• Check out our upcoming post on finding Child Care as a traveler!

Written by: Ellen Stockhausen PT, DPT, OCS