Sooo honestly I’m not sure where I stand on this.. I am currently on 16 weeks of maternity leave. My first 3 weeks were paid by my PTO that I saved up, my next three weeks were paid 50% of my paycheck by my job. The rest is unpaid. I picked up extra shifts (up to 35 weeks pregnant) in order to pay for it. I was big, uncomfortable and working nights. My husband is also taking 16 weeks off that is unpaid. I worked my butt off while pregnant for both of us to be able to take this precious time with our daughter (he’s a nursing student so he really couldn’t work much extra, but did his best when he could). While I would have LOVED for both our maternity/paternity leaves to be 100% paid for, I also don’t think it’s fair that my employer/tax payers/someone else should have to pay for me to stay at home with my child. My husband and I budgeted, lived under our means, and saved enough for our leaves. Most people have about nine months to plan. Do you think it’s fair that someone else should pay for parents to have/stay home with their children or should parents have to budget that out for themselves? Again not really sure where I stand on this issue, just curious what others think. Thank you!