Bitter Pill

I was expecting my fourth child, and one of my biggest worries was where my eight-year-old would spend the week after I gave birth.

It had been a long and tiring pregnancy, and I was very much hoping to go to a convalescent home to rest up once the baby was born. But my husband was busy with peak season at work, I hardly had any extended family living close by, and I didn’t usually take my friends’ children when they had babies, so I felt bad asking friends to take mine.

My youngest at the time was four, but I wasn’t concerned about her. Her kindergarten teacher had offered to take her months before, and I was comfortable with the arrangement. My ten-year-old would stay at the neighbor’s house every day until my husband would come home with takeout supper.

Which left Yechiel, my eight-year-old son, who had been diagnosed with severe ADD. He was in a special school, with great therapists, and his medication helped regulate him on a day-to-day basis. A new baby would be require a lot of adjusting on his part, but first, I’d need time to recover. Which is why I spent the weeks before birth worrying about where I could place Yechiel after the baby was born.