Life

I was on Facebook today, (Surprise!) and stumbled upon the following article: U.S Only Industrialized Nation With No Paid Leave For New Parents

First of all, I am very frustrated with the way facebook has become the place where it is acceptable to regurgitate information you believe to be true and then attempt to force everyone on your friends list. Thus, leaving the rest to endure the comments that most always turn into a stupid virtual argument. stupid.

 That being said, it was very hard for me when I read the article.  I went ahead and linked it to my facebook profile but choose to use my blog as the avenue to leave my opinion. Plus, my blog has SUCKED lately.... I need something with some subtance. 

So, the United States is the only industrialized nation with NO paid leave for new parents, hua?  I can speak from experience, this is true.  When pregnant with Blayne, I resigned from LinkAmerica about 2 months before he was born, and went to work at St. Francis as a Unit Secretary in the cardiac intensive care unit.  (I so wish I would have stayed there.... ) Blayne was born and we started talking about moving back to Muskogee to ake it easier on Kevin.  About a month into being a "stay at home mom" I was literally pulling my hair out.  I was online one day and saw an ad for Arnold Trucking, and submitted my resume.  Long story, but I was offered a position back at Link and accepted.  


When Emileigh was born, I didn't expect to quit work.  I LOVED my job.  I was on bedrest for 6 weeks prior to her entry, and a lot of changes happened during that time.  Although FMLA states I could have kept my job, and have the same position or one equal- that did not happen.  I didn't fight it, shame on me.

During the six weeks I was off (6 of the 12 allowed through FMLA) I was not paid my salary.  To be quite honest, it was hard. Financially speaking, we were still living the same but had substancially less money.  I went back to work when Emileigh was 4 weeks old.  I would have went back at three weeks, but it didn't work out that way.  I went to work purely for the money.  We had bills that needed to be paid. 


I set up a daycare system with Family and thought that we could keep the kids out of daycare.  We moved back to Muskogee because the cost of living seems cheaper (it isn't) and made some big changes.  I worked for a couple of weeks, then decided the best thing to do was to just stay at home with the kids. 


honestly speaking- if I would have continued to receive my salary during my maternity leave, i would still be working today.  I believe this is the case for MANY women.