Why am I advocating for this legislation?
As a forever NICU mom, the decision to return to work while my son was in the hospital was the hardest choice I have ever had to make. Medical research shows that premature babies thrive when their caregivers are able to provide skin-to-skin contact and other daily care needs. Unfortunately, I - like many other parents - had to return to work in order to afford a basic standard of living. My son would go on to remain in his Level IV NICU for approximately 150 days and throughout that period of his life. Despite the fact that twelve weeks would not have covered the total amount of time that my son was hospitalized, having that amount of paid leave would have altered the dynamics of our NICU story drastically.
Every time that I encounter and work with moms like myself, I am amazed by our continued malleability, even under the social structures that serve to break us down. But just because we possess the fortitude to overcome something, doesn’t mean that we should continue living on in such a manner. It is time for Blanket Change.
