Dear Violet,
We just got back from a few days in Santa Cruz, from what is referred to as a 'staycation'. Your mother is taking about 6 months off from work, while I returned to work after about 3 weeks after your birth.
The laws here in the United States only legally allow employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a calendar year, where they are protected from losing their jobs. In contrast, in most European countries, leave for the birth of a child is up to a year, and is fully paid. Sentiment is changing slowly here in the states with cities taking the lead of how their cities' residents are treated. San Francisco just recently passed a law giving residents of the City and County of San Francisco up to six weeks of fully paid maternity leave.
Your mother is allowed by her company to take up to 6 months off, but her pay is limited to what she has accrued for vacation and sick time. The rest is partially made up by state disability benefits which gives her eight weeks of pay concurrent with her sick time. After that, her company will allow her to stay off work for up to six months, but unpaid.
Which means I'll be working and supporting all of us with just my job. It'll be a bit of a challenge, but it will also be temporary.
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