Stacey Skrysak is a busy woman. She is an established journalist out of Illinois. She’s worked in stations throughout the Midwest including, Nebraska, Michigan, and Idaho.
Though she was raised in San Diego, she considers herself to be a Midwestern at heart.
In addition to working at various stations in the midwest, Skrysak has contributed her work to websites such as Today Show Parenting Team, Scary Mommy, Upworthy and Her View From Home.
Shortly after Skrysak gave birth to triplets in 2013, she went from reporting the stories to having her own to share.
She and her husband were thrilled at the idea of raising triplets together. However, just twenty-two weeks after giving birth, two of the children passed away.
Her daughter, Abby, and son, Parker.
The births were more than 17 weeks premature.
The surviving child, Peyton, is now a healthy, six-year-old girl.
But the loss of Skrysak’s two other children left her heartbroken and she began to suffer from PTSD.
To help to cope with all that she and had gone through, she did what she does best, she used her voice.
Skrysak went on to become a voice for premature birth, child loss, and infertility. In doing so, she and her husband met others who were going through a similar experience of losing a child.
Recently, Skrysak provided a written piece to Love What Matters to bring awareness that new mothers need more than six weeks to recover after giving birth to a child.
This comes after Skrysak and her husband welcomed a new addition to their family, daughter, Piper.
Skrysak is one of the few and fortunate individuals who works from home. She is very much aware of this luxury and doesn’t take it for granted.
In her piece, she writes:
“I’ve been on maternity leave for exactly six weeks… I couldn’t imagine heading back to work on this day. But that’s the reality for so many women in the U.S. And it breaks my heart.”
She goes on to write about her schedule, detailing the amount of time she spends nurturing her child in between trying to find time to rest.
“In six weeks that I’ve been home, I haven’t slept more than four hours at a time. My days revolve around changing diapers, nursing and pumping, and trying to figure out why my baby is crying.”
Every mom can relate.
When women are expected back at work, they are expected to be as they were before giving birth. But that just isn’t reality.
Not only are new mothers still dealing with the physical toll of carrying a baby for months and giving birth, the emotional toll can be just as overwhelming.
For example, the thought of leaving your newborn child’s wellbeing with a daycare can be daunting and finding time to find a suitable one in between everything else, can be extremely stressful.
Parents want and need time to bond with their newborns. Six weeks simply just isn’t enough.
The financial burden doesn’t help either as there isn’t a standard for paid time off for women on maternity leave.
“Some countries receive up to a full year with paid leave after they have a baby,” she writes.
Skrysak attempts to balance everything out with the help of her husband and Peyton. After all they have gone through, they are absolutely grateful for the new addition to their family.
Skrysak’s piece shows that while having a baby is exciting, there is a lot of room for improving their experience and lessening their stress.
Watch the video below as Stacey and her family share how they cope with the loss of their daughter and son.
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