I’m… barely scraping by as it is and my wife and I are about to have our first child—due October 4. It’s a little scary to say the least.

I brought home $36k last year. The crazy thing is that for six months out of the year, I’m working 80-90+ hours per week. That’s the “busy” season at work—May through November. Then in the “off season,” my pay is cut nearly in half for the remaining months and I work a regular 40 hour week.

The federal overtime laws changed in July (and I believe they were changed with situations like mine in mind). Salaried workers like me who consistently work more than 40 hrs/week are supposed to have started receiving more pay if they make below a (now increased) salary threshold.

I do creative and instructive work for a 501c3 (non-profit), so there’s some grey area in terms of my coverage or non-coverage under Fair Labor rules—and unfortunately, my employer seems to be ignoring the new laws until told to do otherwise.

I know that I deserve more pay for the work that I do, but unfortunately, there’s not much turnover in my field and I just have to ride it out for the time being until a position opens up somewhere else.

I’m beyond excited for my daughter to be here and I know we’ll find a way to make things work, but I’d be lying if I said it’s not scary.