When I was pregnant, I was employed by a family owned salon and spa that did not offer paid maternity leave. (I want to make it clear that this article is not about them personally, but about the American system as a whole.) So during my pregnancy, I was forced to save as much as I could in order to be able to stay home with my son. That savings added up to five weeks of maternity leave.

My son's first seven days were spent in the NCIU due to his cord wrapped around his neck and him asperating maconinum. (He breathed in his own poop. Super gross, but cause for great concern due to risk of infection.) I brought home new human and was financially able to spend FOUR WEEKS home with my son who almost died at birth. We had a full 28 days to get to know each other outside of utero before I had to return to work. He and I had to learn how to breastfeed, how to to sneak in a shower/bath, how to sleep for 3-4 hour stretches, how to attempt to communicate, and how to bond. When I went back to work, my vagina was still healing from the unmedicated emergency forcept delivery I had to have in order to save his life. It hurt to sit and stand. I was still trying to acclimate to a breast pump.

But here I was, less than 6 weeks post partum, back on my feet as an esthetician, at a very busy salon and spa, working.

America, we have GOT to wake up as parents and start screaming for maternal and paternal paid leave. Not only for our babies, but for ourselves. Mothers and fathers can not be expected to be "involved parents" without some sort of alleviation of duity from work. We are chastised for raising babies who "stare at iPods", and for "leaving our kids in the hands of strangers to raise". I was lucky, my mother was looking after my son while I was at work, but even then we were compensating her. And I will be frank; no matter how capable the hands you leave your child in, your caregiver is never YOU — their parent.

It is a crime against our future generations and a crime against us to continue this precedent of unpaid maternity and paternity leave. Start calling your Congress person. Start calling your Senators. Pay attention to the Presidential election. Vote for those who are willing to stand up for these basic rights. Do not stay complacent anymore.

American babies deserve time with their parents, and frankly, American parents deserve time with their babies.