Mothering Wildlife

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My guest this week is Chandler Hammack, a carnivore keeper at the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo. As a wife to an active duty Coast Guard husband, Chandler is no stranger to moving around the country and gaining experience at a variety of facilities, especially in recent years after becoming married. We talk about her work history and whether or not she feels that variety has been beneficial. She worries people look at her resume and wonder why she's moved so much (which she admits is also because she has an adventuring spirit) but also admits that it has given her experience and perspective she might not have gained otherwise!
Chandler was working with *the* famous Clydesdales of Busch Gardens when she became pregnant with her first child. She shares why she waited to tell her coworkers about her pregnancy until she was 20 weeks, as well as how she was able to be a pumping mom while at work and continue to work such a strenuous job.
When Chandler's son was 8 weeks old, her husband deployed. Chandler shares the story of how she moved home temporarily so that she had support as a new mom. Due to her husbands's job, she also found herself as a stay at home mom for a period of time, before eventually getting back into the zoo field. Chandler talks candidly about how being a zookeeper and a mom are basically one in the same! She honestly thought being a stay at home mom was harder than going to work as a zookeeper! Staying at home was overstimulating, especially since she was used to working. However, most of her day as a stay at home mom was the same as what she did as a zookeeper - cleaning, feeding someone breakfast, doing dishes, and sweeping the floor - all on repeat just like at the zoo!
Mothering Wildlife links:
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Email: motheringwildlife@gmail.com

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My guest this week is Randi Toynton, a Senior Animal Care Specialist at Brookfield Zoo Chicago. Randi is a mom of 4 at the time of this episode release, however at the time of recording Randi was pregnant with her 4th child! Randi is also a twin mom so she shares a bit about her twin pregnancy and how it was the hardest pregnant she had. However with her current pregnancy, things have been a bit different which just goes to show that even in the same woman, pregnancy can be so different. Each time she has been pregnant she has worked in different sections of the zoo which has also contributed to different pregnancies. 

Randi and I also talk about her first maternity leave and what made her the most nervous, which was sleep! Social media often bombards us with infant sleep and how to do it “right”. Randi and I talk about how as a new mom this can cause so much anxiety.
Randi also shares how she tried to take a proactive approach before coming back from maternity leave. She actually reached out to her supervisor to have a conversation about what she thought she could and couldn’t do. It can be hard to advocate for ourselves in these instances but Randi shows how important those conversations can be.
Mothering Wildlife links:
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Email: motheringwildlife@gmail.com

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This week I’m re-running the very first Mothering Wildlife Podcast episode which includes my conversation with Whitlee Turner. At the time, Whitlee was a new mom working at the Metro Richmond Zoo. Her motherhood journey made headlines when she shared a very intimate breastfeeding moment with another new mom, an orangutan where she worked. 

I heard Whitlee’s story and thought there was no better way to kick off a podcast about being a working zoo mom then to talk to someone who was literally merging motherhood with her job. 

Whether you’ve been a listener since the beginning or you just started tuning in, enjoy this episode from the archives! I’ll be back in two weeks with another new story from another new mom!!

Mothering Wildlife links:
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Email: motheringwildlife@gmail.com

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This week we have another dedicated episode on one topic of motherhood, not having a "village" to help you raise your children. My guests are Briana Schmidt from Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium and Jessi Gorman from the Fort Worth Zoo. Both have been on the podcast before and I'm happy to welcome them back to talk about his important topic!
Briana and Jessi talk about what their biggest challenges are in raising kids without a community. Most of those challenges center around schedules and finding and having people available that you trust to watch your children. Both talk about having to find weekend care for their children and how they went about finding caregivers that they trusted. 
It's hard to ask for help when you don't feel like you have a "go-to" family member or friend to help, especially with last minute needs or those times when you just need someone to watch your child for a couple of hours so you can get something done. Not wanting people to feel obligated to watch your child is an emotion that comes up time and time again, especially when children are younger and more is involved in their care. 
There's also the things that you don't think of would be a challenge when you don't have a village, including who you put down as emergency contacts if you and your partner can't be reached, who can help watch your child if you are sick, and how do you spend quality time with your partner when it's not easy to find someone to watch your child for a night out. The question becomes, "Is the thing I need/want to do worth it right now to go through having to find someone to watch my child or should I just bring them along?"
Ultimately, both Briana and Jessi have slowly but surely built villages and friend groups that allow them to have support but it's not easy and like Briana says, you have to put into it what you want to get out!

Mothering Wildlife links:
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Email: motheringwildlife@gmail.com

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This week we have another dedicated episode on one topic a lot of listeners will be familiar with; postpartum depression and anxiety. I'm joined by Tegan Noel, a Wildlife Care Specialist from the San Diego Zoo and Sarah Ross, a former night keeper at Disney's Animal Kingdom as well as vet tech.
Tegan and Sarah share their birth stories, which for both of them included some scary and uncertain circumstances. They also share how this played into their postpartum experiences and we talk about whether postpartum was as they expected or whether it was surprising in any way.
Both talk about having children in the NICU and the anxiety around bringing home a NICU baby. At the time of this recording, Sarah was 3 months postpartum and shares how she is still coping with the anxiety around bringing home her second child from the NICU. 
We also talk about how social media influences our views about the postpartum period and the shame a mother can feel if her experience doesn't seem like other's picture perfect postpartum period. This is an important conversation and both Tegan and Sarah share their own stories on this topic. Both were able to receive help from providers and want others to know that there is no shame in asking for help. 
Mothering Wildlife links:
Facebook  MotheringWildlifePodcast
Instagram  @motheringwildlife
Email: motheringwildlife@gmail.com