Tina Bitangcol spends her days doing what she loves. When the Edmonton woman isn’t working as a registered nurse in the labor and delivery field, she’s a comedian and enlightening mom, sharing her passion for all things pre- and post-natal with her millions of followers online. Nurse Tina.
“What I’ve become really passionate about is educating and teaching people how to advocate for and reduce birth trauma and have a more knowledgeable and positive birth experience,” said the mother of four.
“I love talking about it. I could talk about it all day.”
She didn’t intend to be a well of information, but by chance, in the trenches of motherhood, Bitangkol discovered that there was an appetite for evidence-based pregnancy and parenting advice.
“I actually started out as a mom comedy and uploaded videos about labor, childbirth, and giving birth, and I think it’s grown quite a bit.”
Edmonton nurse Tina Bitangcol is creating educational labor and delivery videos for her social media account ‘Mama Nurse Tina’.
Provided by Tina Bitangkol
It was her lightbulb moment.
“In this day and age, there is a huge need for information. And I said, ‘You have the information. You have a really fun way of conveying it. People really seem to relate to that.’
“I just took it and ran with it.”
That was in 2022.
Bitangcol started on TikTok and then added accounts on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, the latter of which he said he likes best.
“This is an amazing platform for people to access and view long-form, really good information about preparing for birth.”
Mama Nurse Tina is not a euphemism or glamour.”What to Expect When You’re Expecting” Language, as Bitangcol calls it.
She is honest, blunt, and funny.
“For me, that ‘what to expect’ when you’re pregnant, those flowers thing, it was kind of a snoozefest for me,” she said. “I added some comedy to it so more people could relate and utilize that information. “I really enjoy helping people have powerful births.”
Mom Nurse Tina tells women that they will poop themselves during childbirth (“There is no need to apologize. This happens all the time!“) And you don’t have to worry about how it looks assembled.
“It’s not a beauty pageant. If you come in and don’t shave your legs, your toenails won’t be perfectly trimmed and your love won’t be perfectly trimmed either. girl! “Me too, and I’m not even nine months pregnant!” she tells her followers in one of her videos.
Edmonton nurse Tina Bitangcol is creating educational labor and delivery videos for her social media account ‘Mama Nurse Tina’.
Provided by Tina Bitangkol
Bitangcol said it’s the relatable, no-nonsense, tongue-in-cheek humor that many parents-to-be seek as they embark on a life-changing journey, a process that no one can truly understand until they are part of it.
“Pregnancy and childbirth are scary for many people. If you’ve never done it or been around it, it can be really scary,” she said.
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She said adding a little humor to a situation can help people relate and digest the information they are looking for.
“They feel comfortable listening to this song instead of saying, ‘Oh my God, what am I learning?’ So I put comedy in there. And again – that’s my personality.”
It clearly works. Her Mama Nurse Tina account has a large following of 513,000 on TikTok, 360,000 on Facebook, 352,000 on YouTube, and 245,000 on Instagram. Combined, there are over 1.5 million subscribers.
As is the case with all content creators in Canada, she does not receive any money from TikTok. (Canadians are not eligible for the platform’s lucrative creator fund, which pays people in places like the United States.) She also said she doesn’t get paid. On Instagram.
“So you’re basically just putting in your time and effort without any financial gain. Once you can partner with a brand, you can make money that way. But the views themselves are a free gig.
“It’s just a labor of love.”
However, she makes money from views on YouTube and Facebook.
Bitangkol started nursing 17 years ago in the emergency room, where her husband, an attending physician, still works, and has since handled labor and delivery.
Once the kids arrived, she went on a casual schedule and explained that it was all about parenting and her husband’s shifts here and there, which move suited her family life best.
Bitangcol now has time to create content for Mama Nurse Tina. She said this gig is more financially lucrative than nursing.
She uploads videos every day and said there is a learning curve in determining what works and what doesn’t.
“Because our attention spans are so short, we knew we had to grab someone within the first few seconds to really engage with the video.
“Your video can be amazing (but) if you don’t get the first part, you’ll end up scrolling to the next part.”
Bitangcol’s creation of engaging content begins with good quality lighting and sound, and an aesthetic that people are drawn to. That means she records most of her content in a corner under the basement stairs.
“I think anyone can do it if they have their own personality and style and a little space. “My studio is very small,” she said.
“If you have something to say and you can say it with your heart, go out and say it.”
In Edmonton nurse Tina Bitangcol’s basement studio, she records some of the educational labor and delivery videos she posts on her social media account, “Mama Nurse Tina.”
Provided by Tina Bitangkol
So what do viewers care most about?
“A lot of the videos I’ve made about birth trauma usually go viral, and I put a lot of effort into those videos because they’re very important to me. “I think it’s really important to talk about those things.”
Other topics viewers can relate to range from how to go to the bathroom after having a baby (a process that involves using bottles, mesh underwear, ice packs, overnight pads, witch hazel wipes, and numbing sprays or creams) to how to simply change a baby’s diaper. diaper.
“People eat it up and think it’s common sense, but it really isn’t.
“If you’ve never done it – and the same goes for childbirth – if you’ve never done anything like that before, it’s completely new territory for people.”
Not surprisingly, her biggest demographic is women between the ages of 18 and 44. Bitangcol said she sometimes gets noticed when she moves around the Edmonton area.
“It was the wildest trip.” she laughed “When I meet people, they ask, ‘Do I know you?’ And I said, ‘Are you pregnant? ‘Have you just had a baby?’ And they’ll say, ‘Oh yeah!’”
Her biggest advice for new parents: Do your research and prepare. Read books, watch videos like hers, pick the brains of fellow parents, and most importantly, take a prenatal education course.
“It’s really beneficial to give you a basis for understanding what’s going on in your body,” she said.
“Surround yourself with really positive people who support you, not just watch you have a baby. Then get informed about positive experiences.”
Edmonton nurse Tina Bitangcol is creating educational labor and delivery videos for her social media account ‘Mama Nurse Tina’.
Provided by Tina Bitangkol
In addition to educating others, Bitangcol said she has made some of her best friendships as a parenting content creator.
“I met like-minded women who are passionate, love what they do, and truly want to help people have better birth experiences.”
Although she now works full-time as a content creator, Bitangcol said nursing is still her main passion. She also believes that she needs to be a proactive and working medical professional to maintain the trust of her viewers. Even if it’s only temporary for now due to my family’s busy schedule.
“To feel really important, I want to be able to say I’m a bedside nurse,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll give it up completely.”
In addition to her daily videos, Bitangkol speaks publicly about birth trauma, has launched a website, and runs two courses on breastfeeding and prenatal education.
“I have a lot of passion projects, and it’s really nice to have time in my life to explore them.
“Thank you so much. I feel truly blessed.”
