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Parents with newborns in intensive care units have long faced a difficult but overlooked plight: Any parental leave they might have does not take into account the days or even months their newborns spend in intensive care. Many choose to return to work immediately rather than use up leave they will need when their baby comes home. Colorado and Illinois became the first states this year to adopt dedicated neonatal leave programs, galvanizing a grassroots movement for more state programs and a federal policy.

AP Wire
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Moments after his daughter Olivia was born, Marlon White felt his wife's hand slacken as she fainted. The baby, born at 29 weeks weighing about 2 pounds, wasn't making a sound as she was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit. Terrified, he waited in the hall while the doctors stabilized his newborn and wife.