As a freelance writer with no paid maternity leave, Cassie Shortsleeve wanted to keep taking assignments as long as she physically could. "I worked until I pushed, pretty much," Shortsleeve told Insider.
It helped that she worked with "many amazing female editors" who knew if she went into labor, she might have to drop an assignment. Plus, she's the type who wouldn't have enjoyed just sitting around waiting for the baby to come.
"I was, to some extent, happy to keep working," said Shortsleeve, who's since founded Dear Sunday, an online platform that helps women adjust to pregnancy, postpartum, and new motherhood.
Still, she said, "I think there's tremendous pressure on women — particularly pregnant women and new moms — to perform, and this holds especially true for keeping up with their professional lives up through the very last moments of pregnancy."
Women's fears about job losses, workplace discrimination for pregnancy and motherhood, are well-founded, she added, citing statistics showing, for example, that 69% of working Americans say working moms are more likely to be passed up for a new job than other employees.
"If women in this country were allowed the comfort of knowing that they had a paid, government-backed maternity leave after they had a baby or that they had flexibility in the workplace throughout a pregnancy," she said, "I can imagine there would be a lot less stress in pregnancy and new motherhood."