We’re having our fourth baby! – Linda, 35, boasted. – Let’s hope it’s a boy this time! We haven’t told my mother-in-law yet…I don’t want to hurt her. My husband has decided not to. He is putting everything off. I say that soon we will go to the hospital, when will we do it? It’ll get worse.
I see. So the husband’s mother isn’t happy about your new baby?
Well, yes. She told me the second time she was pregnant that babies are expensive. I don’t want to be poor. We were renting. That’s what she emphasized. I mean, where to have a baby if you don’t have a place to live?
So what now? You’ve almost finished the house.
Of course we did. It’ll be ready soon. But my mother-in-law doesn’t like having many children. After I told her about my third pregnancy, she drank a lot of sedatives. Scolded us for being careless. So now we’re hiding everything. I had to tell her the other day. She’s already figured it out. I mean, she had a big belly. She came to visit, looked around the house and saw it.
Hasn’t she ever been to your house?
She came early in the construction. And now she’s nearing the end of the interior decoration. She looked at my belly and almost fainted. She called us crazy, the world is in crisis, we don’t know what to expect. And there are so many children! She got nervous and left crying. She never went further than the doorstep. My husband’s sister called after us and told us that my mother was in the hospital because of stress. And all to blame for my pregnancy.
Linda didn’t understand her mother-in-law’s worries at all. She has her own life, no one brings her grandchildren, they do not ask her for money, sometimes Linda’s parents help. They are their main benefactors. They take care of the children, build the house, and do a great job. And they do not mind another addition to the family.
This land under the house also belongs to them. And they gave it to me. They live nearby. So we can go to each other often. My husband and my father did the repairs together. We do not have enough money. And there is a time limit. My husband works all the time. My father is away at the construction site all the time. I didn’t even hope we’d finish the construction.
My mother-in-law didn’t help in any way during all this time. And her daughter didn’t believe in this either. Why do we need a house in the country? We’re city dwellers. And it’s not a budgetary pleasure.
Here they were right. – Linda sighed. – It’s an awful lot of money! They poured everything into it. It’s a good thing I had some help. But it’s all over now.
Thank God my husband disobeyed his mother-in-law and we decided to build a house and have children. He doesn’t argue with her, he just does things his own way. Linda, even when she is pregnant, manages to work and take care of the children.
My husband has three jobs. He is well paid. So there is enough money for everything. And for food and clothes, and for construction work.
But if there was only one child, they would live like kings. They wouldn’t deny themselves anything. My husband’s sister has one child, and she’s at work all the time. It’s just that she’s alone and she’s got a mortgage. So she’s a good girl. Only her brother disapproves – she adjusts to her mother.
After the news of Linda’s pregnancy, her mother-in-law had a heart attack. And they blame her son and his wife for everything. How is that possible?
