Obviously it had nothing to do with the fact that they gave me 3 days of parental leave after the birth, so I was trying to help a recovering wife take care of a needy child.
What I cannot do is walk over to a colleague's desk and chat. I miss hallway conversations about the project. Phone meetings are always a pain as someone is usually too far from the mic and I can't hear. I don't work in a city that has a "tech" community. I can't take my setup with me and go sit at a coffee shop (part of my project is writing hw controls).
I love remote work. But, I miss people.
Find a company that values you more, and that allows remote (or remote-first). Plenty of companies in the latest Who's Hiring that have fully-remote work-from-anywhere $100K+ positions. Just Do It.
Of course, the problem was caused by lack of paid parental leave with a desire to care for the newborn/wife and not lose salary. So, really, a family oriented company would be best in that situation. Unfortunately, from what I've seen, paid paternity leave is an uncommon benefit in the US.
Start interviewing! Find a company that provides better benefits, better pay, and supports flexible work arrangements. Can't fix your current org having garbage parental leave unfortunately (I mean, you could, but it's a more effective use of your time to just bounce).
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19797594 (May 2019 HN Who's Hiring Thread)