Akshata Nayak, Little Patakha - Vermont

When I was pregnant and preparing for life with a baby, I imagined that I would take her in to work with me. Have a space kept safe for her while I worked.

But I had a difficult pregnancy - because of growing fibroids I had multiple hospital visits and needed strong pain management which would leave me unable to work for days and weeks, sometimes. I had a difficult delivery as well and then recovery from that. I hurt my shoulder when trying to catch Ava (she was about 6 months old) - she suddenly threw herself backwards while she was in my arms. I had bursitis and a tear in the muscle. I used to lift 40 and 50 lb boxes easily, but now I can't.

During this time of recovery - over a year - I realized I couldn't lift the things I needed to at work. I couldn't do repetitive tasks. Which meant my production capacity reduced - everything at The Orange Owl was handmade. By me. My husband Greg helped me with production as much as he could. But that meant he was working two full-time, very taxing jobs - at the clinic seeing his patients, and then running to my office to get things done. It was tough on all of us. I reduced the number of stores I supplied to, and saw my income reduce.

Then I had surgery at the end of 2019 to take care of the fibroids that had bothered me during my pregnancy (and continued to bother me after). Between recovery from that and the pandemic starting in March 2020 and now Ava being home (daycare was closed) - I knew I had to close The Orange Owl. It was a gut wrenching decision because it was a brand I built over 10 years. But it was the right one for me and my family after the incredibly stressful time we had had. It didn't take all the stress away completely, but helped to reduce it.

I didn't put Ava in daycare until she was over a year old. There was nervousness as a new mom for sure, but we couldn't afford it in the beginning either. So we decided to save up for a year to get a little ahead of what would be needed and then get started. It is important for parents to know that their babies will be well taken care of. And that care can be really expensive. I know from friends and my own experience of being stuck in a cycle - you put kids in childcare to work at a job that you need to be able to afford childcare.

I am self employed so I can’t access paid family leave or medical leave like people in some regular jobs do. But if there was some provision available that could have helped me during that time, I know it would have reduced the stress we went through.

I think 2020 has shown us how important it is to have support for child care and also health care (your own, and being able to help family when needed). It takes a huge chunk of our income to make sure our daughter is going to a reputable daycare that can take care of her well. If there was support for that, we would certainly have more disposable income to spend in the community or even save for our future through good investments.