Lauren Smith Brody

And so that's what I've done with a lot of my work since then.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I guess it really boils down to something that simple.

It's also it's really it's being open to sort of a new normal.

It's understanding that although you may be quite good at the job that you do, you are brand new at being a working parent.

And so you're going to need some grace in transition.

And really understanding that there is, in fact, a whole additional fifth trimester.

So in America, most parents are going back to work usually at, you know, between like eight and 12 weeks postpartum.

There's no federally protected paid parental leave.

And so those who can are able to take and have access to it are able to take

12 weeks of unpaid FMLA.

But looking at the research, when you actually understand where that came from, 12 weeks is totally arbitrary.

And what it takes to actually get new moms in particular over the hurdle is you really want to have six months of paid leave, which feels like pie in the sky for most workers in America.

So what can you do as a worker to bridge that gap?

First of all, not being so hard on yourself, understanding that if it feels hard at a

eight weeks or 12 weeks, that that's not because of anything you're doing wrong.

It's just this idea that we have normalized something that is abnormal compared to the rest of the world.

It was actually FMLA, Federally Protected Unpaid Leave, was passed into law by Bill Clinton in 1994.