Ingrid at Crooked Timber has written an excellent post on why men in the Netherlands should receive paid paternity leave. Excellent post and very much worth reading. Totally applicable to our needs here, as well. But what caught my eye (and stirred up old resentments) was her description of health care for women in the Netherlands after they give birth.

… since women are not allowed to stay in hospital after delivering their
babies (except, of course, if there is some medical reason, such as
excessive blood loss or a c-section with complications). Instead, a
professional carer comes to the mother’s home to take care of mother
and child there, paid for (largely) by the national health insurance.
Yet this kind of care has been scaled down considerably – since 2006
the task of these careworkers is limited to checking the health of
mother and child, cleaning the bedroom and the bathroom, doing the
laundry, advising on breastfeeding, and preparing lunch. Until 2005
these care workers would also take care of older children, do grocery
shopping, prepare the evening meals, clean the house, make coffee for
visitors, and do anything else that needed to be done so that the
mother could stay in bed. But how can mothers who just gave birth do
what is medically necessary (that is, try to rest and minimise walking
around for about a week), if they only receive care for 4 to 5 hours a
day, and their partners have no legal right to stay away from work?

How civilized. After my second C-section, I left the hospital after four days, walked up four flights of stairs, and vacuumed the apartment, because my in-laws were already there to inspect the new baby. I had to clean like crazy, because I had sciatica during my last month of pregnancy and couldn’t pick up anything that fell on the floor. Then I made dinner. My husband returned to work three days later, because he had already used up his one week of vacation of time.

Not bitter much.