All I can say to you is there are massive cultural differences between Americans and Aussies, this is not something that would be celebrated over here, on the contrary. I know our entire health system and maternity leave is very different so that would, no doubt, contribute to such different attitudes. I have some friends with cushy government jobs about to have babies and they are contemplating whether they should take a year of maternity leave or two years and I'm thinking "do you really need two years off, that seems a bit excessive" (a year is generally standard over here). But we all live in our own bubbles and if something like that is an option that's available to you, you can see why something like this story would seem crazy in comparison.