After giving birth I was in a three-bed ward. Alice had her fifth baby. The baby was born special – he had a harelip. A woman blamed herself for it, because she agreed to have her fifth pregnancy at the age of 44. She was ashamed, but she did not dare to have an abortion. But I think it’s just a trifle – nowadays such technology makes it easy to correct this defect. The main thing is that the parents love the boy, and the rest is nothing.
Olivia came to us at night. She had a premature baby boy. He was very weak – he was lying in the ward, they didn’t even bring him to feed him. But she didn’t cry, she lay there staring at one point.
– Olivia, you look so young. How old are you? – I asked.
– 17…
– Local?
– No, from the village.
– All alone?
– Yeah, my water broke, so I went.
– Does the baby’s father know you gave birth?
Silenced.
It just so happened that the healthy baby was born to me – everyone else had some kind of problem. My husband called me all the time and asked me what I needed. He visited often and gave the girls presents. He brought a lot of sweets and we gave them to the nurses. We were all breastfeeding, except Olivia.
And everything seemed fine, but I felt guilty and happy. I felt sorry for Alice and for Olivia. Although there was nothing I could do to help.
Two days later Olivia got her son for the first time. Alice and I taught her how to feed him, change his clothes, and bathe him. He was so tiny. I gave her many things, because I already realized that a girl will raise a child without a father. And we shared food with her. She was the only one in our ward who ate in the canteen, nobody brought her anything.
My relatives came to discharge me. The whole family came with balloons to get Alice. Olivia was the only one who called a cab and left…
