TL;DR: I've had to stay home all week because my wife's back is so fucked up that she can't lift our baby at all, so I have to take care of both of them. My job is probably going to fire me because of it.
I'm not really sure where else to post this. I was considering r/casualconversation but I didn't want to bring the mood down. My new (started in August) job at a pharmacy has actually been pretty accommodating for the most part, so I'm not bashing my employer. I'm mostly just frustrated with the culture of the current work climate in the US.
My (M26) wife (F30) has sciatica. It's been relatively dormant or mild for pretty much our entire marriage, but then a couple weeks ago, one of her cast members in a play dropped her. It was only 4 inches, but it was enough to make her sciatica flare up to the point where she can't bend over at all without her back seizing up and her collapsing. We have a 14 month old who is starting to get pretty heavy, so picking her up is not really an option anymore.
All that to say- I've had to skip work a few times before this week. They've all understood- “Family comes first,” they say. But this week I think I've pushed it too far. My wife has barely been able to get out of bed, let alone take care of a baby who is extremely busy pretty much all day and is steadily gaining weight. None of our family has been available to come help out this time, which is fine. It's not their problem. It just means that everything has fallen to me to stay home and take care of both the baby and my wife because neither of them can take care of themselves or each other.
It's now Thursday and I still havent been able to go into work. Thankfully my wife has a doctor's appointment today where she can hopefully get a prescription for some muscle relaxers, but my bosses have stopped responding to my texts and I'm really afraid that they have lost their patience and I'm going to lose my job.
My issue is this- I've been in constant communication with them about what's going on, they've said that they understand how tough it must be, yet they still seem pretty annoyed with me. I'm still in my 90 day probationary period so they can fire me for literally whatever reason they want since I live in MT. I just don't know what the alternative could have been? Leave both my wife and daughter at home so that my wife can injure herself further by trying to lift an ever-heavier baby to feed her, change her, put her down for her nap? What am I supposed to say? “Sorry about your back babe, I know you'll probably hurt yourself even more by taking care of the baby, but I gotta go make $15 an hour.”
Rant over. I'm just frustrated and scared and feeling powerless.