A “long-time listener, first-time caller“ dialed in to Boston Public Radio to weigh in on the day’s call-in topic: what listeners thought of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s decision to forego maternity leave.
That caller? The mayor herself.
Just two days after giving birth to her daughter, Mira Wu Pewarski, the mayor was home — and, apparently, listening to Boston Public Radio.
“I’m sitting in the living room nursing little Mira, and I hear everyone is telling me what to do around here,” Wu said in the surprise call.
Wu and her husband, Conor Pewarski, welcomed their daughter on Monday, Jan. 13, a day before Wu’s 40th birthday. She is their third child, after sons Blaise and Cass.
“I am just so grateful for the incredible doctors and nurses and health care system that we have,” she said. “We were at the Brigham for the third time going through this, and it’s just a reminder every time of how amazing the incredible people are to take care of so many families in the most important times of their lives.
“It went very well for us, and we’ve been back home since yesterday,” she added. “The boys are a little bit in shock, but it went well and Mira is a joy. She’s a dream: sleeping a lot, eating a lot and doing everything that she’s supposed to do.”
Wu said she’s been in touch with her team, editing press releases, planning for the future and “keeping the business of the city going.”
“I’m doing it my way. I’m doing it how I believe it best serves the city, and I enjoy doing it this way,” Wu said.
Wu declined to take maternity leave, even though, as city councilor, she helped establish paid paternity leave for municipal workers.
In August, when asked about maternity leave on Boston Public Radio, Wu had said, “In my role, there is no such thing as delegating the job and just taking off weeks at a time. ... I am on call 24/7 and when a decision needs to be made, I make it.”
She is the first mayor in Boston history to deliver a child while in office.
