Childbirth might seem magical and beautiful to some. But I have heard a lot of women share about the mental and physical impact it has on a woman. Hence, several professional institutions have allowed pregnant women to take maternity leaves in order to take care of themselves better.

But, a woman who happened to be working while she was pregnant, was told to finish the board meeting even when she went into labor and her water broke. She finally finished the board meeting in the car while en route to the hospital.
This alarming news was recently shared by a writer named Christine Carrillo on Twitter. Sharing the details, she wrote:
Friend's water broke during a board meeting.
She says, "I need to go to the hospital my water just broke!"
Lead investor from well known fund says, "Ok, but can we finish the meeting first?"
She finished the board meeting in the car while en route to the hospital.
WTF.
— Christine Carrillo (@ChristineCarril) May 21, 2021
And like us, many people online were irked by the company’s behavior towards the woman. While some pointed out the insensitivity, others said that not everyone has the privilege to say ‘no’ as they have a family to feed.
Are you saying your friend was coerced into completing a board meeting or your friend chose to finish a board meeting despite going into labour? I really want to respect her choice/decision but I don’t know what it is..
— Jason Andrade (@jasonandrade) May 22, 2021
Yooooooo. This is disgusting. We need to call folks out for this crap. People need to know to never take money from this investor
— Mac the VC (@MacConwell) May 21, 2021
100%. But the reality is that for many women – and don’t get me started if they are also women of color – they don’t have the option to say, no I won’t take money from someone who behaves badly when they’ll lead a round. The power dynamics at play are enormous.
— Christine Carrillo (@ChristineCarril) May 21, 2021
This is absolutely appalling, I would call him out & buy him out (irregardless I would actively look for a solution that removes him from the board and/or major share holder). I would love to know who this #investor is and the #badass #founder. #PeopleFirst #LeadershipMatters
— Joseph Viscomi ∞ (@jjviscomi) May 22, 2021
Is this real? Am I living in my naive bubble? Who does that?
— Daniel Kraft (@DanielKraft) May 21, 2021
Obviously there were no other women (or reasonable men) in that conference room to say “WTF are you out of your mind, she’s going to the hospital now and without finishing this meeting.”
— K2? ?❌ ? ? (@EatDrinkNBeMery) May 22, 2021
As a lead, I would have stopped the meeting, requested an Uber on her behalf whether in-person or virtual and re-schedule when she is ready or with her designate.
— Arthur L. Burris, Jr (@ArthurLBurrisJr) May 21, 2021
Surprisingly, there were also some other women who confessed they had similar experiences.
I had an investor ask me to keep a meeting hours after my dad died. I literally followed the vehicle carrying his body back into town and kept the meeting. Because when you’re underfunded and underrepresented you don’t have the luxury of saying “due to personal reasons …”
— Lisa Abeyta (@LisaAbeyta) May 21, 2021
I worked the entire day I was in labor with my daughter – meetings all day (kept post it notes of how far apart my contractions were) – then went to the hospital an hour after my last meeting to give birth. This happens in the startup world and corporations. It’s appalling.
— Katica Roy (@katicaroy) May 22, 2021
I went into premature labor during a meeting with a PM from a major asset management firm. I literally sat in the meeting and grit my teeth until it was done then rushed myself to the hospital. I didn’t want to make a scene ??♀️
— Shana Orczyk Sissel (@shanas621) May 22, 2021
I was surprisingly very calm. It broke early morning. Hubs was sleeping. Contractions were 25 min apart and not strong at all. I managed to finalize my task and send it to my team leader, who said later he didn’t expect it at all. I also packed a lot of food for some reason…
— Aunt Motya (@auntmotya388) May 22, 2021
A client called me about 20 minutes after I gave birth to my first kid, desperately asking me to help him fix a software glitch he had caused by ignoring my instructions. “If I help you, I’m charging you for 4 hours.” He begged. I helped. And sent an invoice a few days later.
— Theresa W. Carey (@twcarey) May 22, 2021
No matter what the power dynamics are and however big the company is, humanity and sensitivity towards an employee should be of topmost priority. Don’t you think?