
When my daughter was born I was given 2 days off work.
When my son was born I had a whole 5 days off.
To be fair, both of my kids were born a month early because my wife had severe preeclampsia. She had a c-section with both children and her first incision dehisced. She was unable to rest because I was already back to work and we had very little help. I had been approved for two weeks of vacation around their due dates but both children decided to follow their own timetables instead. I felt immensely guilty for abandoning my wife to care for our kids on her own as she recovered from abdominal surgery.
This was a challenging time for us but we persevered with a lot of grit, coffee, and tears. This was one more thing I lost to clinical medicine.
On the bright side, I am thrilled to see some employers offering up to 12 weeks of paternity leave. One of my coworkers from Humana is expecting his second child next month and he will be able to enjoy this amazing benefit and critical time with his family.
I wanted to highlight one of the many benefits of non-clinical jobs that is not reflected in the base salary. Future posts to come about additional benefits and debunking the myth that all non-clinical jobs pay less than clinical ones.