Maternity Leave and Being an RN

Per Mermaidgrrrl's request, time to talk about how my grand country treats its babies.

The States has total and utter crap for maternity leave. End of story. Which is entirely embarrassing considering how much wealth and privilege exist in this country. It is clearly wealth and privilege at the expense of our citizens and ultimately our children.

Everyone in the States is eligible for what is called the Family Medical Leave Act. This is time that you can take off work for family emergencies, medical issues and birth. You get twelve weeks. The time is unpaid. The benefit of FMLA is that your employer can't fire you while you're gone. Oh, and you get to keep your insurance. Goody.

There is no paid leave in the U.S. Okay, I'm wrong. I think California will give you six weeks of your salary which you can stretch out over twelve weeks. Other than that you can either go onto short term disability in some states or you have nothing.

In our case, I have nothing from the state.

So how do we do maternity leave? Well, clearly, some new mothers in this country don't really get much. I personally know people who are back to work four or six weeks after birth. In my case, I have about two months of sick/vacation/holiday time saved up. I'm eligible for the twelve weeks because of FMLA, but my union has negotiated that I can take four months. I'll be taking the four months off and my employer (the state) will stretch my leave over that time but let me keep my full-time status.

The good news is that Washington State is taking up the issue of giving paid maternity leave and there is some movement on the federal level as well.

Being an RN and Pregnant

Mermaidgrrrl said that in Australia nurses aren't allowed to work past 32 weeks unless they have a note from a doc. That is incredibly civilized. My government has no such concerns regarding my health.

Being an RN bring a certain amount of risk to the pregnancy beyond just the simple high rate of workplace violence or the inherent stres of the job. The main one is preterm labor. There is a higher rate of preterm labor amongst nurses, primarily because we have a job that requires us to be on our feet for hours upon hours. My country has decided that protecting nurses is not as important and that long NICU stays for preterm infants and the burden to the state of life-long disabilities from babies being born too early are acceptable costs.

But that's pretty typical of the U.S. healthcare system. We hide our costs. We accept people using the emergency room for their primary care, waiting until they are terminally ill before seeking help, and the cost burden that places on the system because over our dead bodies will we actually help people in need. Pull yourself up from your bootstraps, and out of the that crack house, and away from sexual and physical abuse and make something of yourself. And if you happen to NOT be able to get out of the life you were simply born into? Well, fuck off.

I'll work until 38 weeks.

I do this knowing that I'm sacrificing time with our son, but I think it's the best choice I can possibly make. I can't leave earlier because it will deeply cut into my time at home. Most people in the States will work until their water breaks, and there are nurses on my floor who did just that.

The saving grace? I only ever work two days in a row. Yes, they are twelve hour shifts, but studies have shown a reduction in preterm labor with being on the floor fewer days. And thanks to all my unplanned ultrasounds, I know that my cervix is still nice and long.

The downside. I'm fucking tired, and my job means that my days off are usually spent recovering, not being useful. This makes things very hard for M. who is left holding up the household and all the work we need to do at home and I lie blotto on the couch.

Okay, end of rant. That's our shitty healthcare system, our shitty lack of care for new mothers and the needs of children. It's just shitty all around.