A political post (warning for those who don't want to get political)

I never usually post political things, but when I got this in the e-mail, it freaked me out, because the same thing happened to me. I had to go back to work six days after Anne Marie was born while she was still in the nicu because it was the only way to have enough maternity leave when she got out of the hospital. And I had to beg work to allow me to do this, even though my maternity leave was unpaid (they wanted my maternity leave clock to start ticking immediately, so I would be back in 12 weeks regardless of Anne Marie's predicament). I felt lucky that they let me return to work, but it was hard (I was visiting Anne Marie four times a day, then working in between).

I think it would be nice if the U.S. joined the rest of the world and offered paid family leave so mothers who must work didn't have to leave their babies so early to make ends meet.

My goal is to someday not have to work, and stay home with my little ones. While it might be possible for me in the near future, it isn't for many women. Even with state help, it's difficult to live on one minimum-wage job. It's even difficult to live on two, but a lot of people have no choice.


Anyway, here's the story:

Dear MomsRising.org member,

I want to share the story of Selena with you -- a woman who had her baby on a Thursday and was back at her desk the next Monday morning while her newborn son remained in the hospital.

Here's what happened with Selena: She was pushing a shopping cart full of pasta, rice, tortillas, and other basic food staples, when a pain started as a nagging stitch in her side. Her baby wasn't due for another six weeks though and she thought the pain would likely just go away, as many strange pinches and pains do during pregnancy, so she continued shopping for her family.

Selena and her husband, James, had carefully worked out their finances to accommodate a second child, figuring out that they could only afford to have Selena take a little over two weeks off after the baby was born. Like 61 percent of families in the U.S. with children, they were both in the labor force.

But unlike the rest of the world, the United States doesn't (yet!) have Paid Family and Medical Leave for all new mothers (which is paid time off after the birth of a baby). In fact, only four countries in the world don't have some form of paid leave for new mothers: Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, Lesotho, and the United States. So, not surprisingly, having a baby in the U.S. is a top cause of poverty spells as people face job interruptions due to lack of paid family leave.

It's not so very hard to see that what happened to Selena could happen to many of us.

The best laid plans sometimes go awry. The morning after the shopping trip, Selena went to her doctor and found out she really was in early labor. After trying unsuccessfully to stop the labor, Selena and James' baby boy, Connor, was born six weeks early.

Their baby was rushed out of the room and up to the Neonatal Intensive Care unit, Selena's husband rushed up with him, and Selena found herself alone in a hospital bed realizing that she was going to go home well before her baby. She had a tough decision to make.

With her son stable in the hospital, but not knowing how long until he could come home, the choice was between Selena taking time off when he was in the hospital, or waiting to take time off when the baby was released from the hospital and could come home. "There was no way we could afford for me to take off more than we planned," recalls Selena.

They made a difficult decision: They decided it would be best if she waited to take time off until the baby came home.

So this is how after Selena had the baby on Thursday, she was released from the hospital Friday, and was back at her desk on Monday morning. "It was the hardest two and a half weeks of my life," she says recalling the ache of being away from her newborn son and the rigorous family schedule at that time.

We have great news though. MomsRising members are making a difference at the state level. In Selena's home state, Washington, such a law was passed within the last couple of years-mainly due to the work of local MomsRising members pushing it forward. This means that Selena wouldn't face the same predicament if she had her baby there next year.

In fact, due in no small part to the efforts of local MomsRising members, Paid Family and Medical Leave laws (also called Family Leave Insurance) have passed in both New Jersey and in Washington, and are moving forward in Oregon, New York, Maryland, and more. And, California was the first state to have such a law.

Working together, we moms are making progress at the state level, and know we can do it at the national level too. And now we have the chance to build much-needed support for a strong, groundbreaking bill for all moms and families.

Take a moment to forward this email to friends and family. The more moms that Congress hears from, the faster they'll realize that something must be done now. The bill is written and ready to be passed; they just have to get working on it.

Here's that link again to urge Congress to pass the Family Leave Insurance Act in case you need it:

http://www.momsrising.org/NationalPaidFamilyLeave