Hello, I’m 6 months pregnant with my second baby. I have had an extremely rough pregnancy since the start. The first 3 months I was extremely sick and was dealing with a knee injury. And the entire pregnancy I’ve struggled severely with my mental health. Daily functioning has been so difficult. Throughout my pregnancy illness and struggles I have managed to continue working. However, my mental health and illnesses was getting worse and my doctor advised me to take time off to recover.
I filled out a short term disability form through my job, and my place of employment reassured me that I wouldn’t be penalized for taking time to recover and receive treatment. I was worried my job wouldn’t be safe and that I’d lose my benefits, specifically short term disability. Again, I was reassured that wouldn’t happen.
I took off 3 weeks and when I came back I was told that they had hired someone else to replace me and that I was going to lose my benefits. I am completely devastated. I’m already behind in bills due to being off, and now I won’t receive paid maternity leave. 😭My husband is doing all he can, but unfortunately we rely on both incomes to run our household.
Our goal was to be able to catch up financially, and save money for whenever I am out of work. Our baby is due in March 2024. I will be off for the first two months of him being born. I was expected to have paid time off during that time. After that, the school will be closed for the summer, and I will not receive any pay for that either. So I’m going to be out a total of five months.
Not having any type of financial security from my job is extremely terrifying. I’m devastated and hate to be asking for any type of help as I know so many people are struggling. My pregnancy has been so difficult and I haven’t even got to enjoy it at all. and now I feel like the time off that I will have with my baby won’t be as enjoyable because I will be so worried about our financial situation.
If there is any way that you can help us reach our goal so that we have some security, I would greatly appreciate it. I am doing what I can to navigate the situation, but I don’t know what’s going to come of it and how long that’s going to take.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read and for your help. If you can’t help, please pass along to someone that may be able to.
Marah & Adrian Peña
