No paid parental leave means crappy family values
What a crappy 24 hours.
Yesterday morning I called my sister complaining, "why can't people in our family have babies early?!"
The same afternoon I cried to her, "It doesn't matter how uncomfortable I am I can't afford to have this baby early."
Junia is sick.
I am thoroughly exhausted as my body seems to be giving up sleeping.
And my list of things to complete at work feels long and totally unmotivating.
Oh, and after confirming details with HR, regarding maternity leave, it is a way crappier situation than I realized.
Yesterday morning I called my sister complaining, "why can't people in our family have babies early?!"
The same afternoon I cried to her, "It doesn't matter how uncomfortable I am I can't afford to have this baby early."
*****Attention women who may ever have children*****
There is no such thing as paid maternity leave in the United States.
Yes you can probably get time off courtesy of Family Medical Leave Act.
But you will probably have to use all of your your vacaction and sick time to be able to pay your bills.
Get this. If I have a c-section I can get 4 weeks of disability pay. If I have a "normal birth" (seems ironic to call it a normal birth since the c-section rate in the hospital I'll deliver at is 40%) I get 2 weeks of disability pay.
Seriously! I am working very hard to prepare for a vaginal birth, hiring a doula, preparing myself for conversations with medical prividers, fending off the cruelly impersonal statistics handed over by my OB, preparing for a hypnobirth style delivery. But now, I cannot help but acknowledge how nice it would be to have those extra 2 weeks of disability pay...to not have to sort out childcare for that time...to have extra bonding time...on and on.
And, of course, I work at a Catholic instution. Look at our family values put into action!!! That's right this weekend parishes will be asked to send around a petition opposing gay marriage and I can't even get a Catholic institution to offer support for the families the church claims to support.
And, at the end of the day so much of this depends on when I have this beast. 1 week late gives me a week later in the summer...1 week early give me a week less.
Yesterday morning I called my sister complaining, "why can't people in our family have babies early?!"
The same afternoon I cried to her, "It doesn't matter how uncomfortable I am I can't afford to have this baby early."
Junia is sick.
I am thoroughly exhausted as my body seems to be giving up sleeping.
And my list of things to complete at work feels long and totally unmotivating.
Oh, and after confirming details with HR, regarding maternity leave, it is a way crappier situation than I realized.
Yesterday morning I called my sister complaining, "why can't people in our family have babies early?!"
The same afternoon I cried to her, "It doesn't matter how uncomfortable I am I can't afford to have this baby early."
*****Attention women who may ever have children*****
There is no such thing as paid maternity leave in the United States.
Yes you can probably get time off courtesy of Family Medical Leave Act.
But you will probably have to use all of your your vacaction and sick time to be able to pay your bills.
Get this. If I have a c-section I can get 4 weeks of disability pay. If I have a "normal birth" (seems ironic to call it a normal birth since the c-section rate in the hospital I'll deliver at is 40%) I get 2 weeks of disability pay.
Seriously! I am working very hard to prepare for a vaginal birth, hiring a doula, preparing myself for conversations with medical prividers, fending off the cruelly impersonal statistics handed over by my OB, preparing for a hypnobirth style delivery. But now, I cannot help but acknowledge how nice it would be to have those extra 2 weeks of disability pay...to not have to sort out childcare for that time...to have extra bonding time...on and on.
And, of course, I work at a Catholic instution. Look at our family values put into action!!! That's right this weekend parishes will be asked to send around a petition opposing gay marriage and I can't even get a Catholic institution to offer support for the families the church claims to support.
And, at the end of the day so much of this depends on when I have this beast. 1 week late gives me a week later in the summer...1 week early give me a week less.
It is truly unbelievable how unbelievable "Family Values" do not align with anything my family values.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely confounding. I was told that for most women it takes 6 weeks to recover from a c-section. I know with my own experience of a vaginal birth, it still took about a month to feel recovered just from the birth. It's funny how family values for many seem to be more about dictating the female body than about caring for a family as a whole. I'm so sorry that this is what you're up against!
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