While I was interviewing for a new position, I found out I was unexpectedly pregnant with our second child.  I continued with interviews and ended up starting a new part-time job at six weeks along. When the first trimester finished, I announced my pregnancy at work and everyone acted as though I had pulled the wool over their eyes and tricked them into hiring me. When I told one of my senior co-workers, her very first reaction was to raise her eyebrows and say cooly, “Well that’s funny timing for just having started a new job.”  This was three years ago and I never forgot her words.

When my son was born he got very sick and ended up needing to be hospitalized until he was a month old.  A week into his hospitalization I was contacted by my boss and told that I needed to tell him immediately if I would still be returning to work on the previously agreed-upon date.  When I told him that I had no way of knowing due to my child having a life-threatening infection, I was essentially laid off as they hired someone else for the job.  To make matters worse, I was not eligible for unemployment compensation because my boss told the agency that I had rejected a job offer. No one from that job ever contacted me again to find out how my baby was doing.