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My name is Laura Palescandolo. I am a wife and a mother of two living in New Providence, NJ. I have lived in NJ for almost 39 years and work for a bilateral chamber of commerce. My son and daughter are ages 6 and 2, respectively, which means that I have been navigating the learning curve of motherhood for six years. During this time, despite a strong support network, I have encountered numerous challenges -- most notably, the high cost of childbirth, limited maternity leave, the struggle of breastfeeding, and the lack of affordable childcare with hours that accommodate full-time working parents.

When I gave birth to my son in 2016, I never imagined that a standard hospital delivery, free of complications and partially covered by my employer-based Aetna insurance, would cost me $8,000 out-of-pocket. Being a first-time mother and caring around-the-clock for a newborn is overwhelming, even with family support, and the costly hospital bills were inequitable and added a level of stress I did not anticipate. Childbirth is a natural life process, with thousands of babies born in the United States every day, and should not be a huge financial burden upon parents. Due to maternity leave that was both limited in time and extremely low in financial benefits, I returned to work after just six weeks, which was not nearly enough time to be home with my son. As soon as I did, my milk supply took a hit -- and I struggled to pump enough milk to nourish my son. Breastfeeding is beyond difficult, even in ideal circumstances, and returning to work meant I had to carry a breastpump to/from work on the train every day to express milk in a less efficient manner, in a "private" room in which people would inevitably walk in by accident, while enduring the stress of being away from my desk multiple times a day and having to excuse myself from meetings to pump. The challenge was enormous, and only through commitment and dedication was I able to provide breastmilk to my son through the age of two-and-a-half. If I were in a different occupation, in which I had to work a shift or be “on the floor,” for example, none of that would have been possible. Breastfeeding challenges were compounded by another huge stressor -- modifying my work schedule to catch an earlier train to be able to pick up my son from aftercare by 6:00 PM, at which time I would be charged $10 for every 10 minutes of being late, on top of the thousands already spent on tuition. The quality of care and instruction my son has received is top-notch, but the annual cost is over $15,000, excluding aftercare and material fees, which adds another level of financial hardship.

In April 2020, amidst the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I gave birth to my daughter at home with two nurse-midwives, which cost $5,500 out-of-pocket. No part of the cost was covered by insurance; yet I felt like we were saving because it was less than what my son's hospital birth cost us out-of-pocket. Because the stay-at-home order had me working from home, I was able to continue working, and I opted out of taking maternity leave and did not have to consider childcare. That is not to say that life was easy -- my husband had been laid off as a result of the pandemic and my son was back home with us. Most days, it was (and still is) difficult to work while trying to care for little ones, but the pandemic afforded us the silver lining of being home with our children -- particularly our newborn -- and alleviated some of the hurdles we would have otherwise encountered in regard to parental leave, breastfeeding, and childcare. But it should not take a pandemic to alleviate those stressors. In August 2020, I was reduced to part-time by my employer as a result of pandemic cutbacks. While the financial adjustment has not been easy, the reduced hours have alleviated some of the overwhelming stress I felt in trying to juggle too many jobs at once as a “full-time, working, stay-at-home mom” (which is what has driven many mothers to leave the workforce entirely as the pandemic has progressed).

I hereby call upon you to invest more in families with young children. Put a cap on out-of-pocket childbirth expenses, so that no family has to struggle to afford giving birth. Broaden insurance coverage to not just include pre/postnatal care from doctors, but pre/postnatal care from midwives. Extend maternity leave to six months and increase financial benefits for parents. Standardize childcare hours to ensure every facility can accommodate working parents. And lastly, make childcare a public good -- as it is the foundation of the education of our youth. Let us work together to create a culture that prioritizes children and lays the foundation for families to thrive.