Brittany: A Furloughed Mother Struggles to Make Ends Meet

Member story

Something was wrong

Brittany couldn’t sleep. The pressure in her leg was excruciating, like a charley horse that wouldn’t stop. It was worse than any pain she had ever felt—worse even than giving birth to her three children, the youngest of whom was still lying in the NICU in Dayton, Ohio. “My leg felt so heavy I couldn’t walk,” she said. 

Doctors had released her anyway, with assurances the pain was probably just Sciatica. But as the vise grip on her leg tightened, her mind raced for things the doctors had missed. They’d pressured her to take birth control after her daughter’s birth. She knew her body didn’t respond well to synthetic hormones.

She dragged herself out of bed and began researching her symptoms online. She had just endured a high-risk pregnancy and had unrelenting pain in her leg. The results terrified her. She was sure she had a blood clot. 

Furloughed and struggling

The next day, doctors confirmed her fears. But even scarier than the diagnosis was the prescription—blood thinners and an order not to return to work until she healed. 

Not being able to work was another blow to a family already reeling financially from the pandemic. In early 2020, Brittany had been at a high, moving into a rental home with her fiancé after losing everything in a house fire in 2017.  She had a new job as a hospital housekeeper, earning $15 an hour. She was excited to learn she was pregnant again, even if she knew she’d have to work almost immediately after delivering.

“I called the unemployment office every single day for months.”

Then came the pandemic. In April, the hospital furloughed her, she said, deciding it was too much of a liability to let a woman with a high-risk pregnancy continue working. She applied for disability but was denied. Then she applied for unemployment but was turned away because she’d already applied for disability benefits, a red flag for some caseworkers that can doom innocent people like Brittany to endless frustration. “I called the unemployment office every single day for four months,” she said.

In the midst of it all, she gave birth to Kaitlyn five weeks prematurely. And then came the blood clot.

Ailing, unable to work, and with three kids, including a preemie, Brittany languished. More than eight months after applying, she had yet to receive any monthly benefits, and her former sense of security was completely gone. “Before the pandemic, we were doing well. We had everything we needed,” she said. “It was like the rug was pulled out from under us.”

Hoping for the future

With no job and no public assistance—her fiancé’s job prospects are hampered by a juvenile conviction—the family’s bills piled up. Brittany fell behind on rent and struggled to feed her children. Their $3,500 savings disappeared, and Brittany resorted to selling their clothes. She had to ask her landlord for a refund on rent so she could purchase diapers. 

Out of options, Brittany pleaded her case on Facebook, posting on different groups about her struggle. One stranger paid her rent for two months. A food pantry started making food drop-offs at her house every three weeks. “Strangers took care of me for those months,” she said.

By December, Brittany was close to the end of her blood thinner prescription and desperate for money. She decided to return to work after the holidays, regardless of her doctor’s approval. She had no money to celebrate the holidays, and her landlord was demanding rent, even as she struggled to buy basics like formula. 

“It’s hard to come up with rent money because I still have to buy food for the kids,” she said. “My kids come first. My kids are going to eat.”

The end of 2020 arrived without work, but she gave thanks that her blood clot had mostly healed, and for her daughter’s health. 

Ultimately, Brittany knows a job is the only thing that will improve their situation. Her hopes remain pinned on going back to work at the hospital despite fears of COVID. Even when she does go back, she’s so far behind financially, she’ll still be in a hole.

 “I’m scared because I don’t want to get my kids sick. But I need to go to work to take care of my kids,” she said. “I make $15 an hour. Who wouldn’t want to go back to work?”

Brittany says access to affordable childcare and paid maternity leave would have made a huge difference for her family. “The problem I’m having now is finding childcare,” she said. “If that became law it would allow more daycares to offer affordable options. I wasn’t paid for being out of work on maternity leave. I wish that was in the books right now. That would help me a lot out.”