Have you ever tried giving birth? It’s not for the weak. In fact, the entire process leading up to birthing an entire human out of your body isn’t for the weak. Being pregnant changes and stretches parts of your body you didn’t know existed. Even the volume of blood that pumps through your heart increases.
Your joints loosen, your hips spread and for some reason, your nose and lips can spread, too. And even though your nose looks big enough to stick your fist into, you can’t breathe through it efficiently. Pregnancy is a lot. But birth, whether vaginally or via cesarean is like running a marathon with little to no training. Then come the hormones, sleep deprivation and healing.
But if you’re working in America when you happen to go through that life-changing experience, you can hang up any thoughts of having adequate time to heal and bond with your baby. In many instances, you’ve got six weeks—and those weeks may or may not be paid. (The U.S. is one of the only countries that doesn’t federally guarantee paid maternity leave, and most states don’t mandate paid maternity leave, either.)
Anna Gantt uploaded a video to TikTok expressing her frustration at America’s maternity leave policies. In her video, Gantt is walking her dog and her newborn child in disbelief that new moms generally get six weeks of paid maternity leave in the United States when other countries get up to 18 months.
“I live in Georgia, in the United States, and it’s not legal to separate a puppy or a kitten from its mother until they are 8 weeks old,” Gantt vents. “So how, how is it okay to leave a human at 6 weeks old? My body is not even healed. I just now can go on a walk with my dog and my infant.”
She makes some pretty good points. Humans who birth babies aren’t cleared to return to normal light activities until a minimum of six weeks but it can be longer if you have complications. Maybe it’s time for the United States to address its maternity leave issue.
Watch her entire video below:
