

That may be federal, but some states (and i do mean some) have something called FMLA provided by the state. The one I am in guaranteed you 8 weeks and I believe it was just raised to 12 weeks. Granted it’s not great because it’s a lot of paperwork, you don’t get paid right away, you won’t make what you did if you were working, and not all the weeks are payable! But you are allowed this if you want it and your job can’t fire you. If your job is good enough, which normally they are, you can combine the state time off with your jobs time off to add on an extra month or 2. My wife’s a teacher so she did this and used all the sick time and vacation time she had saved over the years to take an extra few months on top of FMLA so she was able to have our kid in December and take the rest of the school year off from January to June then get summer break and return in sept. So still not a year, but 9 months wasn’t bad either. I on the other hand got 2 weeks and our 2nd kid I took 3 weeks of vacation. Sadly everyone’s experience is different and you won’t know what you will have because it’s up to the state and job which is stressful on its own. Most places from what I have seen with friends are not trying to screw you, but I would say the average I’ve seen people take is 1 month.
Edit: so I just looked and since it’s been a few years since I have last needed it i haven’t followed it. Looks like FMLA has spread to more states and looks like about 12 (mostly blue states of course) now have this at the state level. https://onpay.com/insights/paid-family-leave-by-state/
That’s interesting. I knew it caused appetite suppression, but i didn’t realize it dulls other areas as well.