In the summer of 2012, my husband and I found out we were pregnant with triplets. During the course of my pregnancy I had to take a significant amount of time off from work due to various medical appointments.
My husband and I are both employed full-time and the appointments took much of the designated sick time we hoped to use after the babies were born. In March of 2013 I gave birth to twin boys prematurely via cesarean section, unfortunately, we lost one of our babies.
My twins were doing well in the NICU despite being born prematurely. However, I did not do so well; my delivery was not easy. Carrying multiples impacted my body greatly. I suffered a hysterectomy and came very close to dying. In fact, my doctor’s said they had to revive me 3 times.
As you can imagine my husband was feeling a myriad of emotions, twins in the NICU and a very ill wife in the Intensive Care Unit. On top of this, my husband’s job offered very limited FMLA.
At a very crucial time in our family lives when we needed money and time for adjusting and healing we simply didn’t have it. He had to take time off unpaid to care for us. Additionally, I had exhausted most of my sick time so we were absolutely struggling financially.
I know that there are countless other families who would benefit from Paid Family & Medical Leave.
Jane D. Smith, Hartford
