In late November, in a small rented room in Dong Kinh ward, Ms. Nguyen Thu Huong (character's name has been changed, 28 years old) lay on her side, her hands tightly holding her pregnant belly.
After more than 8 months of pregnancy, with low weight, her body was so tired that she only dared to breathe slowly.
"I stayed there all the time because I was afraid of a sudden labor change. Now there is no money left to call a car to the provincial hospital..., she said, her voice choked up.
Orphaned since the age of 15, mother died two years ago due to serious illness, Ms. Huong from the South followed her husband to the North to start a family. The two sons are obedient, but their family circumstances are not very well off.
Her husband's parents are old, she grows vegetables to raise chickens for extra money, but he has severe gout and can no longer make loops. The couple took care of their grandchildren, and their household expenses depended entirely on the young couple.
Her husband is a worker, earning 9-10 million VND/month depending on overtime. Before getting sick, she worked as a financial saleswoman, earning 10-11 million VND/month, and was the second pillar of the family.
" Then everything unfortunately happened. I had to take a long time off work because I had to take a long time off. After taking birth control pills unevenly, she is pregnant with her third child. When she learned that she was pregnant, she was forced to stop treatment. Then, I would like to do it seasonally, to work day by day," she said.
For nearly half a year, she has been working while trying to keep her pregnancy. Pregnant women and newborns all asked for help from groups.
"As long as you can give birth to a healthy baby is enough. I don't have any more, I just can take care of myself," she said.
Every day, she earns a few hundred thousand from seasonal work, wrapped it in her jacket bag and stored it in the closet. That was the "buy a child" and also the only amount of money that she had to transfer to a higher level for congenital hemorrhage.
Everything seemed temporarily fine, until last weekend evening.
She choked up and said: "That late afternoon, my husband left work early and texted me asking for some money to go to the party with my brothers. I said I had no money left, then continued to cook dinner.
He didn't come home to eat. I called dozens of times but didn't answer. He only returned at 2am, drunk, lost his phone, wallet, and worker card. I panicked, opened the closet to check the savings and it was empty.
The next morning, when he woke up, he confessed that he had secretly taken all the money to invest in stocks.
"He is a worker, he has not studied or researched anything. But he said it was too much pressure, debt, about to give birth, so I took a risk..., she burst into tears.
She called her parents-in-law to come. But instead of blaming her son, all the heavy and light words fell on her.
Now she just hangs around on a small bed every day. Each abdominal whirlwind made her exclaim. The couple no longer had a dialogue, he avoided her, she was silent. All efforts to preserve the family seem to have run out.
"If I can get through this labor, I will write a petition. I don't care if you accidentally or intentionally. During the seasonal days, every penny is taken away, now so haunted that I can't forget it," she said, tears flowing down.
