I just want to say how absolutely bullshit it is that my state lumps your maternity leave under FMLA. I get 12 weeks off. I'm 9 months pregnant and any time I take to prepare for the baby or rest or deal with medical issues is counted against that 3 months. My body is screaming at me to slow down. I'm in constant excruciating pain. Everytime I even consider taking a day to rest, I feel overwhelming guilt and absolute dread at the thought of leaving my tiny newborn.
This shit is unacceptable when other countries offer 6+ months PAID leave. We should not have to push ourselves to the absolute brink just to be tossed the cookie of 3 months with our babies. Our babies deserve better and our mothers deserve better, hell our fathers deserve better. Especially since the recent overturning of Roe v Wade. We deserve separate, protected, paid leave for ALL parents. Our children should not be raised by daycare workers from infancy.