My wife will be giving birth any day now. She is taking off 3 months at her job, unpaid so she can heal and take care of our newborn. I was more than willing to get a second job to make up for the loss in income, and I did. I also got a third. And it’s not going to be enough. I make a decent salary at my main job, and I’m trying to supplement our income with Lyft in the evenings and on weekends, and 6 days a week I work 3 hours at night cleaning the exterior common areas of an apartment complex.
Not only will I not be able to replace all of my wife’s income, I’ll be using every spare second and ounce of energy I have- just to break even.
To add insult to injury, I found out today that my boss at my main job either lied to me or got false information himself. At the beginning of the year he told me I would be able to take at least 2 weeks, maybe 3 just to integrate a newborn into our lives. He said I could take it paid, no issues. I assumed my company had parental leave. Nope, days before my wife is due he calls me up and tells me I can use whatever vacation time I have (8 hours) and then take time off unpaid or come back to work.
So here I am, working until I drop, and not being able to bond with my first child during the fleeting and important newborn stage.