@osvaldo When I gave birth to my daughter 17 years ago, I was pleasantly surprised when my boss popped by a few hours after the birth with a bouquet of flowers. I was honestly touched until 5 minutes in he asked when I would be returning to work. It seems that someone had quit then morning, so it was going to make it really difficult to cover my maternity leave. In the end, I got 4 weeks off and was catapulted into a 60 to 70-hour minimum work week as a single mom of two. I was given a promotion and a new location (restaurant), and it was held over my head that if I needed to step down, it would severely impact my pay, as well as future promotions.
I was young and stupid and had no family to help out. Dad in this situation, was a piece of shit who thought giving me $40/week in child support was more than sufficient. So until I was able to go to court, I was stuck.
I don't know how I survived the first 3 years of her life. I was perpetually exhausted, always behind on bills, and babysitters took advantage at every opportunity, quite often getting more of my paycheck than I did at the end of each week to ensure she and my older son were well taken care of.
It really sucks that the maternity leave policy is so shit in the US. There should be a basic standard of paid leave in the US, and it should be more than just the time to heal. I'm sorry that you had such a tough labor and delivery, and I am more sorry that your leave was a concern in the front of your mind.