How do you imagine your maternity leave? Coffee with friends, some shopping with a baby in a stroller.
Amy Laban, a member of Kibbutz Nirim, celebrated Simchat Torah at the kibbutz with her husband Uriel, her newborn son Kai and her mother. It wasn’t how she imagined her moments with Kai, she didn't imagine that she would have to place him on the window frame of the safe room to allow him to breathe, she didn’t imagine that for 6 hours they would be in the safe room, with the house burning and the smell of smoke and coal suffocating them.
She didn't imagine that she would have to open the window with fear so they could breathe and quickly close it because of the gunshots. Hours later they were rescued.
"Our baby was hospitalized for 3 days. Thank God by the time we left the hospital his tests were normal. My husband and I were in the emergency room with burning eyes and smoke inhalation. We are all still coughing. After a few days we were evacuated to Eilat with other kibbutz members. My mother lives there and she came with us.”