bed rest
Hypothetical question: Preemies & Maternty Leave?
August 24th, 2010
Libby283, A mama to be posted the following “hypothetical question” to the community on The Bump.
This is just a hypothetical question and wondering if any other ladies had it happen and how it was handled…
What happens with maternity leave if you have a preemie baby that will require a lengthy hospital stay. For instance I only get 6 weeks maternity leave with my employer. If I delivered tomorrow, at 30 weeks, the baby would be in the hospital for the duration of the maternity leave. Does your doctor & employer let you go back to work early and then use the remaining leave time for when the baby comes home?
Just curious, but I hope I don’t have to worry about it as a reality.
There were some conflicting responses to her question, and I thought it a really good question to respond to on Mamas on Bedrest & Beyond. We’ll also be posting a reply on The Bump.
First and foremost, Libby283 is entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid medical leave as stipulated in the United States Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This act states that eligible employees are entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave with guaranteed job protection each calendar year to,
- Deliver a baby,
- Bring home An adopted or foster child
- Care for a critically ill family member such as a spouse, child or parent
- Heal and recuperate from serious illness.
Here is the actual text of The Family Medical Leave Act as posted on the US Department of Labor Website:
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides an entitlement of up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave during any 12-month period to eligible, covered employees for the following reasons: 1) birth and care of the eligible employee’s child, or placement for adoption or foster care of a child with the employee; 2) care of an immediate family member (spouse, child, parent) who has a serious health condition; or 3) care of the employee’s own serious health condition. It also requires that employee’s group health benefits be maintained during the leave. The FMLA is administered by the Employment Standards Administration’s Wage and Hour Division within the U.S. Department of Labor.
So Libby283 is actually covered by the law as well as her employer.
What gets sticky is when people try to combine two or more leave policies to get more time off. The scenarios play out very differently depending on your employer, your state laws and how you choose to use the federal law. Recently in Massachusetts, the courts ruled that the Massachusetts Maternity Leave Act entitled women to 8 weeks maximum for maternity leave (See Massachusetts Maternity Leave Act: No Help for Mamas on Bedrest). since that is only a state ruling, women could then attach an additional 12 weeks onto their leave as stipulated by the Family Medical Leave Act. What is allowed varies from state to state so women planning to become pregnant should find out what they are entitled to and to make provisions in the event of a complicated pregnancy (requiring bed rest) and/or a complicated delivery requiring an extended hospital stay for mama, baby or both.
What employers choose to do becomes another matter. Libby283’s employer can say, okay, you can have 6 weeks paid leave (not sure if she is being paid or not) but if you want the entire 12 weeks, the remaining 6 weeks is unpaid. In that way her employer has not violated FMLA and has not breached the company policies. Likewise, the company can say, you are entitled to the 12 weeks of unpaid leave as stipulated by FMLA, but we are not obligated to pay you. Or, if they are a really family friendly company, they may even offer 12 weeks of paid leave (haven’t seen this one in a while, but one could hope!)
As the law reads you are entitled to 12 weeks family medial leave total per calendar year. So Libby283 could in fact split her time off between when she actually delivers and is discharged and when her baby comes home. While this is good in theory, it is my experience that when a mama has a preemie, she is not back to work but in the NICU any chance she gets, so time off could still be an issue.
It’s clearly evident from Libby283’s question and the laws that this is a confusing issue. Mamas on Bedrest & Beyond is committed to working with other organizations to advocate for improved maternity privileges including extending maternity leave and having maternity leave be paid. Subscribe to our blog and e-newsletter to stay abreast of what is happening with maternity leave and how we are working to initiate change at local, state and national levels.
Why Most Women Can’t Afford to Go on Bed Rest
August 19th, 2010
I recently commented on a blog post by a fellow mom blogger CourtroomMama. I really appreciated her blog post, commenting on and explaining the appellant victory of Samantha Burton and the ACLU which overturned a court decision that had ordered Ms. Burton to go on prescribed bed rest for pregnancy complications.
In March of 2009 a Florida court ordered Samantha Burton to go on prescribed bed rest as her doctor recommended due to complications with her pregnancy. Burton, a single mother with two living children had refused to go on bed rest citing that she could not afford to be out of work, unpaid and not able to provide for her family for the estimated 15 remaining weeks of her pregnancy. The ruling implied the court didn’t care about her right to make her own health decisions or her current children, but sought to protect her unborn child. To add insult to injury, Burton was also ordered to submit to any and all “medically necessary” treatments including cesarean section. Sadly, Burton delivered a stillborn baby several days into her bed rest. In August of 2009, The ACLU filed an Amicus Brief, i.e. a court appeal, on Ms. Burton’s behalf. This August, 2010, Burton and the ACLU won their appeal. The ACLU cited that the previous ruling had misused the “Best Interest of the Child” standard, applying it to an unborn fetus when it is typically reserved for issues of juvenile court involving “living” children.
I really encourage every one reading this blog to take a look at CourtroomMama’s post. She has done a really nice job of making legal jargon understandable for us commoners and she raises some very interesting questions as “food for thought” that we all should be heartily considering when it comes to maternity leave.
What struck me most about this Florida ruling and other rulings and declarations that rule in favor of “protecting an unborn child” is how the mothers in all of these cases are essentially reduced to a gestational vessels-their lives, their interests and sometimes even their health is subjugated in favor of the unborn child. In the Florida case, Ms. Burton clearly stated that she could not afford to be out of work for 15 weeks as she would be unable to pay for and care for her two living children. That was not a persuasive enough argument. Nor was the fact that ordering her to submit to medical treatments against her will was a flagrant violation of her civil rights. The court and Ms. Burton’s OB implied via this case and its ruling,
“You are incapable of making decisions regarding the health and well being of you and your child, so we are taking your right to make your own medical decisions-and your right to make decisions regarding how you will care for yourself and your family-out of your hands.”
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated court case and nor an isolated situation in which a woman’s rights are trounced in favor of the rights of someone else. The fuel of the abortion argument as well as the controversy surrounding the usage of emergency birth control, is whether or not a woman has the right to decide when she will carry a pregnancy and hence control her health and her body. I was completely outraged when Republican Senate Candidate Sharron Angel (R-NV) stated that women should never be allowed to have an abortion, even in the case of rape. Within the course of with Alan Stock, Ms. Angle made her infamous statement that women should take these “lemon” situations and make “lemonade.”
Besides being one of the most insensitive and ignorant statements I have ever heard of, I’d like Ms. Angle and others opposed to abortion, morning after contraception, voluntary sterilization and other medical treatments available to women that allow them to control when they choose to become pregnant to consider the fact that while they are telling women to have the children that they did not intend to conceive, they offer no tangible ways for these women to support themselves through the pregnancy and birth process. While some men share the responsibility of unintended pregnancy with their partners, many more who get their partners pregnant simply walk away taking no responsibility for the well being of the woman or unborn child. So with this being the case, is it any wonder that women are making what many would deem “radical decisions” regarding their health and the health of their unborn children?
The United States makes few provisions for women, especially single women, to provide for themselves and their unborn children. Instead we choose to point fingers and make the case that women should not even have sex outside of marriage. At the core of Samantha’s Burton’s case is the fact that United States is one of few if not the only Western nation that offers no paid maternity leave, no professional home attendance after a woman gives birth and little to no assistance with childcare. (For more on how poorly the US compares to other countries, take a look at the THE WORK, FAMILY, AND EQUITY INDEX-WHERE DOES THE UNITED STATES STAND GLOBALLY? report)
Whether a woman is single or in a stable relationship, our workforce rules and regulations are antiquated. Back in the early to mid 1900’s when many of our workforce rules were put in place, the majority of employees were men and those women who were working, typically did so only until they started their families, then they stayed home and raised their children. But clearly this is no longer the case. According to the US Department of Labor,
- Of the 122 million women age 16 years and over in the U.S., 72 million, or 59.2 percent, were labor force participants—working or looking for work.
- Women comprised 46.8 percent of the total U.S. labor force and are projected to account for 46.9 percent of the labor force in 2018.
- Women are projected to account for 51.2 percent of the increase in total labor force growth between 2008 and 2018.
The rules governing the workplace are no longer applicable to today’s workforce. Ladies, why do we stand for them?
Women are capable of making wise medical decisions. They are also capable of holding down full time jobs while taking care of themselves and their families. The laws governing personal rights and freedoms must be applied to women (as guaranteed by the constitution of the United States)-even if women make unpopular decisions or decisions that those in authority don’t understand. Women have the legal right to make those choices.
Likewise, Department of Labor and other workforce organizations need to re-evaluate the workforce, paying close attention to how the American family has evolved and our workforce rules need to reflect this evolution. It is unacceptable for women to be forced to choose between their jobs and their families with the assumption that women can’t competently manage both. The assumption that women must be regulated by outside bodies (Pun intended!) is also unacceptable. Given that women are fast becoming the majority in the workforce, isn’t it time that the laws reflect this majority? Without re-evaluation and application of individual rights to women as well as re-evaluation of our workplace rules and standards, we stand to see many more cases like Burton v. Florida.
Angela Davids: Helping Mamas on Bedrest KeepEmCookin’!
August 9th, 2010
This month I am happy to feature someone who I now consider a good friend, Angela Davids. I actually met and got to know Angela on Twitter (@KeepEmCookin) as we are both passionate about supporting high risk pregnant women on bedrest. I knew from her website (www.keepemcookin.com) that Angela spent time on bed rest with both of her pregnancies, but when she told me what she went through with her second pregnancy, I knew that it was a story that needed to be shared. Angela developed severe pre-eclampsia following the birth of her son. What followed was nearly a fatal catastrophe. But I’m going to let Angela speak for herself. Here is Angela’s story.
Late in 2007, Just 5 weeks into my pregnancy, I discovered through ultrasound that I was pregnant with twins. My husband and I were shocked-yet we couldn’t have been happier. I had miscarried with our first pregnancy, so in a way it felt like we were making up for the baby we had lost.
At 17 weeks into the pregnancy, I begin having contractions.
At 19 weeks into the pregnancy, we had the regularly scheduled ultrasound where most people usually find out if they are having a girl or boy. Would we have one of each? Two boys? Two girls? February 28, 2008 was going to be one of the most exciting days of our lives!
At the ultrasound, we first found out we were having a boy. Bliss! And then the sonographer told us that the other baby had died in utero. I had just heard both heartbeats two weeks before and we had an ultrasound before that, where we saw their fingers and toes and adorable faces. Worry set in. Would the loss of one baby cause me to miscarry and lose both babies? My doctor said we would just need to wait to see if we would make it to 24 weeks, which is the earliest point of viability.
At 24 weeks and 1 day, I went into preterm labor and was placed on prescribed bed rest.
We were able to halt labor, and after nearly four months of bed rest and A LOT of medication, our Little Guy arrived safely at 39 weeks and 3 days on July 20, 2008. He was perfect, But I was in the worse shape of my life!
Immediately after delivery I was in agonizing pain, could barely think and couldn’t put my thoughts together enough to speak. Over the next couple of days I grew worse. I couldn’t walk and I could only hold my son if someone handed him to me because I was so weak. I couldn’t empty my bladder, so a catheter was placed. I cried and said I wasn’t ready to go home, but still, the doctors sent me home.
I called the hospital every day to describe my worsening symptoms; headaches, sudden swelling in my legs, extreme weakness, dangerously high blood pressure. Each time I spoke to a different doctor. Perhaps because I was so weak and my thoughts and speech were so confused, they couldn’t understand what I was saying. But on the fifth day home, I suddenly had chest pain and a nose bleed and my husband put me in the car and immediately drove me back to Labor and Delivery.
The doctors suspected preeclampsia, a condition characterized by often dangerously high blood pressure, extremity swelling and protein in the urine. It is treated with magnesium sulfate given intravenously to prevent seizure and stroke from the high blood pressure. It’s a horrible drug, with unbearable side effects for some, but it works. A few hours later when they tested my blood, they realized that the magnesium sulfate wasn’t leaving my body through my urine because I wasn’t urinating. It was trapped in my body because I was in acute kidney failure.
The pain was unreal and the thought of it still frightens me. Every moment was a struggle. The monitors sounded an alarm every time I shut my eyes because if I didn’t force myself to breathe, I stopped breathing. My sister was amazing, telling me, “Stay awake, Ang. You can get through this.” While doing her best to encourage and support me, she was running to the bathroom to throw up because she was so sick with worry. Meanwhile, my husband and my mom were at home with my newborn son and our two and a half year old, trying to maintain some kind of normalcy there.
After a week in the hospital, a blood transfusion and various IV fluids I was able to return home to my son. I was still very weak, but at least I was home.
When I thought of how lonely and frightened I was during my long months of bed rest, then to miss the first two weeks of my son’s life after all those hours waiting for him was almost unbearable. Part of me wanted to leave my experiences with bed rest and preeclampsia behind, to just move on. But I knew I was lucky to be alive. I had learned so much through my experience I decided to create a way for women on bed rest to reach out to one another online, to describe what they are experiencing and to help one another. That’s where the idea for KeepEmCookin.com came from.
Ladies, We can learn from one another and teach one another about high-risk pregnancy; what symptoms to look out for, how to care for ourselves and how to advocate for ourselves. We can share with one another the right questions to ask our doctors and how to make ourselves heard. Most importantly, We can do our part to guarantee that we have the healthiest pregnancies possible and keep our babies safely cookin’.
