Spain. Early 20th century. Born a woman? Enjoy!

Watching Gran Hotel and between learning to say: "Donde esta la carta?"  picking up some Spanish  - I can feel hair on my head move. What's scarier to be - a helpless rightless mother or a helpless rightless baby? An unwanted, unexpected baby. Almost killed right in the process of delivery. His mother almost killed in the process of his delivery - this time deliberately. And that's  not counting a potential abortion and mother's poisoning during pregnancy - but what's new there, really?

For a few miserable weeks the infant sleeps in an old chest, is wrapped in rugs, is left alone in the room, suffers severe malnutrition, co-sleeps with his Mom, never receives any medical attention or a single vaccination, is used for blackmailing,  kidnapped, freezes up in the woods during a thunderstorm and eventually - never recovers from illness.
His elder twin brother is a bit more lucky, closer to end of the series he is still alive and only gets stolen once, and not for long, and most of the time he spends all alone in his crib, wearing multi-layered dress with frills all over and a bonnet, not playing with anything or anyone, and apparently - not being fed anymore - but this is really just a negligible detail...

A fiction movie is a fiction movie, but I can't help thinking how lucky I am: during my whole pregnancy no one tried to poison me, buy my baby or force me into abortion. Since his birth, he was never used to blackmail his real father. He has actually been living since birth with his real father, who never tried to kidnap and send him away. He has a closet and a chest full of clothes he can wear and still move around. He can have as much milk as he wants, and as much of any other food as he wants  without rolling on the floor crying: "God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!"   . He has his own comfy bed to sleep in, his personal space, his toys.

I take a deep breath and breathe out with relief every time I think it's amazing that all basic needs of my child are already covered. He can focus on  growing, learning and developing, exploring the world around , getting to know himself better. I find it hard to imagine what would it feel like to spend every day with a tiny helpless person by your side, hiding him in a chest to protect, boxing up his whole life with my only concerns of his unsafety and hunger. Living hell.