Mom Shares Her Tearful And Painful Experience Returning To Work 12 Days After Giving Birth

Becoming a parent is hard, especially when you have to choose between spending time with your newborn and going back to work. Although people are trying to find a balance between parenting and work, no balance has been found yet.

Here’s a similar story of a woman who has to go back to work 12 days after delivering a premature baby. New mom Rebecca Shumard, who goes by @edensmomma10_12 on TikTik, went viral after filming herself crying because of the reality of her tough situation.

She shared how she had to return to work just 12 days after giving birth to her baby, daughter Eden, at just 27 weeks. This is so the 26-year-old could then spend her maternity leave with Eden once she’s discharged from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (aka NICU).

The US is the only country without a national paid parental level program. According to BBC Worklife, roughly 21% of US workers have access to paid family leave via their employers. Meanwhile, other parents have access to (just) 12 weeks of unpaid leave. That is if they happen to work at a company with 50+ employees. Or, as The Atlantic put it a tad more bluntly, this situation is “American exceptionalism at its bleakest.”

We further reached out to Labor and Delivery (L&D) Nurse Holly D. for comment. “At 27 weeks gestation, an infant is just completing the 2nd trimester and considered very premature although most cases are viable,” she told us. “A patient with a history of preterm delivery is considered High Risk. Premature babies are at higher risk for premature lungs, risk of complications regulating temperature, brain bleeds, increased risk of infections, that can result in death. Prematurity is a rigorous journey.”

Holly explained that most premature babies will require admission to the NICU. “Their gestational age will determine how long their NICU stay will be. At 27 weeks, it is almost always expected for some type of respiratory support to be a significant part of the plan of care as the baby’s lungs continue to develop and mature.”

“To say that a mother or father being present after the birth of their child is important does not seem enough.”

Mom Rebecca went viral after sharing how she had to go back to work just 12 days after her premature baby was born

Her video reached a lot of people around the globe who gave her a helping hand. You can watch the full video here

@edensmomma10_12 #nicu #postpartum #ppd #preemie #americanhealthcare #maternity ♬ original sound – Rabs

“The postpartum period is such an intricate time for the mother to heal physically emotionally, and mentally,” Labor and Delivery Nurse Holly told us.

“It is also a time where bonding and learning with the newborn take place. This bonding is healing in so many ways. In premature birth, mothers are forced to make a choice to heal physically or postpone that postpartum time off from work for when the infant comes home from NICU,” she said.

“Unfair/inhumane will describe that forced decision that employers have placed on the parents in these situations. Parents are able to continue bonding with their infant while in most NICU admissions. This bonding time can be interrupted by the plan of care, and medical needs. Employers should not be dictating the medical needs of the mother and imposing a continued delay in bonding time with their infant.”

Here’s how TikTok users reacted to the mom’s tough situation

Some people shared information about what parental leave looks like in other developed countries

Fortunately, the mom and her newborn got the happy ending they deserved

Here’s how some internet users helped Rebecca after her video went viral

You can watch Rebecca’s follow-up video right over here

@edensmomma10_12 Thank you all so very much  #nicu #postpartum #ppd #preemie #premature #prematurebaby #pumping #medela #americanhealthcare #FMLA #maternityleave #familyleave #Eden ♬ original sound – Rabs