How I Lost My Job Because of My High Risk Pregnancy

I go to Target at least twice a week, partially because I am always in need of formula and diapers, and partially because it has a Starbucks where I can get my iced coffee fix, and it also has those jumbo carts that can hold all three of my kids. When I was teaching, Target was my go-to place for everything I needed for school: Flair pens (if you don't have any, BUY SOME NOW!), bright colored reams of paper, glitter folders, binders that make me happy, and even more practical must-have items, like the multiplication flash cards and book bins that I found in the dollar section last summer and used all year. By mid-July, Target has all of their back-to-school gear out in the aisles, and since I don't have a classroom to decorate this year, I started thinking about the circumstances that led to me essentially loosing my job this past December.

On December 11th of last year, when I was 21 weeks pregnant, I was driving home from the hospital after my third admittance to Labor and Delivery. Earlier that afternoon, I had an ultrasound and appointment with my maternal-fetal medicine doctor. At this appointment, my doctor had given my a 50% chance of making it to 32 weeks gestation, had told my husband and I that it "was a matter of when, not if" I would go on hospital bed rest, that we should "plan on long term hospitalization in 2018," and that I needed to go on bed rest until I delivered (which was potentially four months away since I wasn't due until the end of April.)My doctor later told us that he expected me to deliver that week, and since I was only 21 weeks pregnant at the time, he essentially admitted that he didn't think Nick was going to make it. My bleeding had stopped temporarily (though I would pass a massive blood clot later that night and be readmitted in the morning,)so I was allowed to go home. While leaving the hospital, I called my principal. After being told my pregnancy and the life of my child were in serious danger, and that there was nothing anyone could do to help us, calling my principal was a crazy thing to do. At that point in the year, I had missed nine days of school because of my hospitalizations in November and the two weeks of bed rest that followed. I had already used all of my sick days and most of my vacation days, and as I repeated to my principal everything my doctor had just told me, she suggested we "circle the wagons," and that I should go on disability until me son was born. Everything seemed to be working out okay until the following day, when I was back in the hospital, when she emailed me to let me know that, in order to receive FLMA coverage, you have to teach in the school district for a full year. Since it was my first year teaching in this district, I didn't qualify for FMLA. So, since I couldn't physically be in my classroom to teach and I didn't have the option of going on disability until my son was born, and my principal needed a teacher, I had no other choice but to leave my job. Another way of phrasing that would be to say I lost my job because of my high risk pregnancy.

In fairness to her, my principal was wonderful. She is one of those compassionate leaders who is a principal for the right reasons, and always acts with the best interests of her staff and students in mind. She was so supportive of me and my family, and I knew she was genuinely worried about Nick and I. I had unintentionally put her in a bad position, and her hands were tied. I don't know if she would have given me my same position back, and I was already leaning towards staying home with my kids the following year anyways. There was nothing stopping me from applying at a different school this school year, even though it would have been such a pain to switch grade levels and learn the ins and outs of a new school again. I felt so much guilt that I had missed so many days with my students, and I knew they needed a teacher who could consistently be present and totally focused on their education. But still. It was hard to accept that this was for the best, and that my complicated pregnancy was having a detrimental impact on my students. It was a good reminder how replaceable we all are, but I am positive that not being on my feet all day and not having to deal with the stress of teaching was one of the main reasons that I stayed pregnant as along as I did.

Loosing my job also meant loosing my insurance coverage, and my paycheck. Thankfully, my husband has a great job with good insurance, so loosing my income wasn't too big of a deal. But, as we continue to receive bills from my hospitalization and the NICU, it's incredible to think of the position we could have been in. If I was a single mom, or if my husband was unemployed, we could have been in a position where I had no income and no insurance. From November to February, I had either an (expensive) appointment with one of my doctors, or a (super expensive) high risk ultrasound every week. If you factor in all my time spent in the hospital and Nick's 53 days in the NICU, we could have been-literally- hundreds and thousands of dollars in debt. Even with my husband's good health care coverage, we still paid a significant amount of money in hospital co-pays. This issue doesn't even begin to take into account maternity leave coverage. Nick was in the hospital for eight weeks, but I was only entitled to six (!!!) weeks maternity leave. I suppose other moms in this situation could have just filed for disability or taken a leave of absence until their baby left the NICU, but, again, I didn't have that option because it was my first year in the district. I cannot imagine-literally cannot imagine-having to do lesson plans, teach meaningful lessons, do recess duty, or physically be in my classroom while Nick was in the NICU. I think this attitude and these policies stem from the fact that most do not understand how traumatic a high risk pregnancy and the NICU can be (more to come on this issue!) It is simply not the same as having a full term baby, or having a difficult delivery, or having to drop a six week old baby off at daycare. But that is a blog post for another day.

I do encourage any of you with similar stories of poor maternity leave policies or health care coverage to share them with your state representatives if you feel comfortable doing so. If you go to your senator's or your district representative's websites, they will have either an email address or a phone number of how you can get ahold of them (if you call them, ask for the email or phone number of their health legislative staffer.) Even if nothing comes of it, you are at least sharing your story and making one person aware of some of the long term consequences of a high risk pregnancy or the NICU.