The past three months have been a whirl of sorrow, happiness - and exhaustion - for Mr Dave Yuen.

On May 13, his wife, who was six months pregnant, died after being hit by a lorry while crossing the road. That was also the day his daughter was born, when doctors rushed to deliver her via an emergency caesarean section.

Today, the child remains in the neonatal intensive care unit (Nicu) at the National University Hospital. He declined to say when she might be discharged.

But already, Mr Yuen, who works as a chef, has exhausted his leave entitlement of around five weeks. This includes two weeks of paid paternity leave, a week of shared parental leave, compassionate leave as well as annual leave.

"Premature babies enter the world without the benefit of a full 40 weeks to develop safely inside their mothers," he told The Straits Times, adding that learning about the percentages of survivability for such babies had been a hard pill to swallow.

"The biggest challenge I face is being helpless, because there is nothing I can do about it. The only thing I believe can make parents of premature babies feel slightly better is to be with their children."

He added that it would be good to have more days of paid parental leave; besides being able to be with their children, parents could also have more time to learn how to care for them.

"The father could also use this time to prepare himself mentally to go back to work, with the possibility that his child might not be discharged from the Nicu," said Mr Yuen.

He added that as doctors are unlikely to provide a fixed date for the baby to be discharged, the total bill will probably be high as well.

"Assuming that no insurance is bought, taking unpaid leave would definitely be a last choice," he said.