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Dr. Dad
A Time for Family
By Edward R. Rosick
My son, Edward R. Rosick II, was born on September 15, 2000 at 7:16 a.m. Starting then and continuing for the next seven weeks, I was transformed from a full-time attending physician and assistant clinical professor at the Pennsylvania State University to a stay-at-home dad.
This metamorphosis was courtesy of the federally-mandated Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a law which gives one up to 12 weeks of leave each year to care for a family member, be they sick or pregnant or just born. Of course, this being America and not Western Europe (where both Mom and Dad are given 10 weeks of paid leave upon the birth of their child), it was to be seven weeks without a paycheck and without university-paid benefits, both of which left me at first feeling guilty – and even frightened.
My wife, Pamela, and I had been planning for my extended work hiatus ever since our daughter, Alyssa, was born June 15, 1998. At that time I had been a physician at the Student Health Services Clinical Center at Penn State for just under a year. Because of this, I wasn't eligible to take time under the FMLA to stay at home with my wife and daughter. Since it was during the summer, my load at work was easier. But I still was gone at least nine hours a day, time I truly missed watching my little girl grow. There and then, Pamela and I decided that it was time to start putting money away so that when the next child came, I could take some time to be a full-time dad instead of a full-time doctor.
Of course, we hadn't agreed upon just how much time I was going to take off. Two years later, when Pamela became pregnant with Edward, I made it clear at work that I was going to be taking FMLA time after my son was born. "How much time are you going to take?" they asked. I told them, "Around a month," and left it there – at least until Pamela asked me the same question.
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