Brittany’s Story
I am 33 years old and I have three sons. It's difficult to work and take care of your family, but it’s very difficult when it comes to having a child and going back to work. I remember when I first got pregnant with my oldest, it was really hard. My husband and I had just got married. Financially, we weren't making a lot. I was working at a retail store, at only $8 an hour. It was hard to take time off for appointments during my pregnancy and I didn't get paid for that time off, which meant my check would be short. Once I had my son I couldn’t go back to work at all, because we couldn't afford child care.
At this time my husband joined the military, and was in boot camp, so I was alone. I couldn't work the on demand schedule in retail being alone with an infant. Later on I changed jobs, but even then, it was very hard. I had to beg my mother to help me a lot which was taxing on her and I still was only bringing home $400 every two weeks, and it was barely enough to get by. So it was very hard.
Fast forward to having my second child. I had just moved to Maine and was a store manager. I ended up having a c-section with my son. I lost money because I had to stay out longer since I needed time to heal. It was hard rushing back to work with the demand of 80 hours a week or more because, as the manager, it's all on you. At this time my husband was deployed, and I was alone. It was extremely hard without paid leave or better daycare opportunities. I had to take my child to daycare which closes at 5pm, but a retail store doesn't close at 5pm, it closes at 8 or 9 at night. I had to leave and go pick up my kids and I got written up for leaving, even though I came in early, even though I stayed longer whenever I could. I ended up losing my job, because I had to take care of my child.
When I had Thomas, my third, I had a c-section again, and I went back to work early. I could have had 12 weeks unpaid, but when I left work I only got two checks the whole time I was out. I had to cut my time short, and only stayed out for six weeks. I went right back, and I wasn't fully healed. My husband was deployed again, and I was alone with 3 children taking care of an infant. I was sleep deprived. I was depressed. I was trying to breastfeed. I remember I had to go lock myself in an office just to go pump for my infant cause I didn't want to give him formula. It was extremely hard and financially just terrible.
I definitely think that we need paid leave automatically and it shouldn’t depend on where you work. There should be something in place to give you at least a few months off, maybe even a year. It takes so long to heal from having a baby. You're not done after 6 weeks.
It’s ridiculous that we expect people to just go back to work and continue their life. I was still in pain when I went back to work. I would have moments where, if I moved too quickly, if I stepped wrong, my incision would hurt.
I want our lawmakers to see what we go through. If they could watch someone get up in the morning at 4 am, get their children together, make the food, clean their house, get their kids off to school, and get themselves ready and go to work for 8 to 9 hours or more, all while trying to pump and get that milk out for their baby, things might be different.
If they could see people under this stress and suffering in the night as they are sleep deprived, crying, wishing it wasn't so hard to just survive, maybe things would change, because this is just basic day to day stuff.
If things had been different and I had paid leave, I may not have lost my job as a store manager, because I had to take care of my child. I would have been able to have the time off to heal. In a year my husband would have been back. We would have been given a better quality of life. I wouldn't have felt so down, afraid, nervous and just overwhelmed with trying to do everything.
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