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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.

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