Editor’s note: This commentary is by Amy Johnson, who is program director of The Family Center: Parent Child Center of Northwestern Counseling and Support Services in St. Albans.
[T]wo minute micro-naps had become part of my standard routine during my pregnancy. I would lock myself in the employee bathroom, set my alarm for two minutes, and hope the brief amount of time would suppress the pain and nausea I was feeling from pregnancy. Often, instead of napping I would cry in the bathroom from the sheer exhaustion of it all. Wishing I could go home and rest, yet knowing that any sick time I took off before the baby arrived meant one less day I would have to bond with her at home before heading back to work postpartum.
I had eight days of fully paid leave when my daughter was born. Those days came from my sick and vacation accrual, and when I returned to work I had a balance of zero — as did my partner. Having used all of our accrued time off for the birth of our daughter became an incredible challenge when our daughter was constantly catching illnesses at child care and we had to leave work to care for her. I was often going into the red with my time-off accrual and when I left the organization I owed money.
I received four weeks of leave through short-term disability, during which I received 50 percent wage replacement. The financial implications of depleting my accrued time off and receiving half my paycheck are still felt by my family today, over two years later.
A few days is not enough time to physically and mentally recover from labor, to bond with a new baby, and start to feel even mildly comfortable with being a new parent. The decision to return to work shouldn’t be driven by financial pressure; it should be because caregivers are ready.
Our daughter was born with a health issue, which was later diagnosed as benign, and it added to an already stressful situation. I tore a ligament in my hip during labor that created a lot of pain and mobility issues, and nursing was proving to be painful and challenging while not coming as easily as I had hoped. All the while, I could see the end of my parental leave coming at me like a runaway semi-truck, but a financial pressure of lost wages forced me to return to work despite being barely able to walk and having challenges nursing.
Postpartum depression had set in and I wasn’t ready to be back at work both mentally and physically. I would show up for work an anxiety ridden zombie unable to focus on anything or anyone. Barely comfortable with nursing, I had to pump multiple times a day – I would pump in my office and cry. It all felt like too much. So many changes, so much to learn, so much fear it was terrible being away from my daughter so soon.
Having a paid family and medical leave program that would have afforded me more time with my daughter and more time to adjust to life as a parent would have made those first crucial weeks a little bit easier, allowing me to return to work with more focus and energy.
My story isn’t so different from many other families. It isn’t significantly harder than what anyone else has or will experience; in fact, quite the contrary. Over the course of my career, and in my work as a Parent Child Center director, I have seen so many families go through struggles similar and often more intense than my own. Giving children a strong start by making it possible for their parents to bond, breastfeed and care for them when they’re ill is shown to improve health outcomes.
The Parent Child Center uses a multi-generational approach to support children, youth and families and offers an array of supports and services. These services build protective factors in families and help to mitigate the risk and effects of “adverse childhood experiences.” By offering prevention and early intervention programming that builds hope and resiliency, we are helping to turn the curve on population health. We are strong in our ability to provide prenatal and postpartum support but the thing we can’t offer is time. Time is the piece that needs to be part of the equation, the time needed to bond with baby and learn how to be a caregiver … a family.
A family and medical leave insurance program is a low-cost approach to turning the curve on population health. I’m in strong support of this issue and look forward to seeing it move forward in the Legislature this coming year – let’s help to set families and children up for success!
