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This week's episode is another dedicated episode on one topic - pregnancy and childbirth complications. I bring together two guests; Carolyn Kelley, the Assistant Manager of Tours at the St. Louis Zoo and Caroline Adams, the former Director of Education at the Zoo in Forest Park, who left the zoo field a couple of years ago and is now working for the state of Connecticut in childcare licensing.

Both share their stories with pregnancy complications while trying to work routines at the zoo. Their stories include journeys with hyperemesis gravidarum, inguinal hernias, Type 1 diabetes, pubic symphysis diastasis, and post partum pre-eclampsia.

We talk about how it felt to care for a newborn while also trying to care for your health and some of the differences between the postpartum periods of their first children vs. their second.

One topic we dive into is the feeling of jealousy watching other mom's "normal" postpartum experiences because that wasn't their reality. We spend some time talking about the grief associated with deciding you are done having children because of complications that arose in your previous pregnancies.

Finally, we talk about the guilt felt from having to modify routines at work and being put on light duty and how that impacted their teams.

Caroline's advice is to not only advocate for yourself at work, but advocate for yourself in a medical setting. Carolyn has made it her mission to try to supprt other moms as much as she can, hoping that by sharing her story that someone else navigating complications will feel less alone.

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