Chapter n°13-17 - Rufus' birth

Hey guys,

I'm back with a new blog entry about chapter 13-17 and about the song "Everything to me". I hope you're looking forward to reading it :)

Chapter 13:

Annie tells Sam that she's pregnant aswell and they're thinking about the future of the two babies.

"They'll be friends, won't they? - I hope so. They'll be the same age, anyway." (p.188, ll.33-35)

Sam and Alicia are working out how they carry on when the baby's born.

"I enrolled in a sixth-form college, and Alicia decided to take the year out (...)." (p.190, ll.31f)

Chapter 14:

Alicia gives birth to "Rufus". Sam and Andrea are with her at the hospital. Sam's description of the "giving-birth-situation":

"It seemed more like a place where bombs explode and legs came off and old ladies dressed in black started screaming." (p.201, ll.4-6)

Andrea and Annie argue about the baby's surname, until Alicia's dad and Mark come in and meet their grandchild for the first time.

I can understand Sam's reaction somehow. His girlfriend is giving birth to their child and it's a very big thing. It suits to Sam very much that he's describing the situation like this because he's often a bit strange, e.g. when he's talking to Tony Hawk's poster. So I didn't really wonder about Sam describing the situation like a battlefield "where bombs explode", haha.

https://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2013/11/28/10/39/newborn-220142_960_720.jpg

Baby Rufus <3

Chapter 15:

Sam moves into Alicia's house and Alicia and him take Rufus (nickname: Roof) home for the first time.

"Here we are, Roof. Mummy and Daddy. This is your whole family." (p.209, ll.27f)

Chapter 16:

Sam lives the day he already visited once as he was wizzed into the future.
He goes to college this day and has a fight with another boy who is telling Sam Rufus might be his son and not Sam's. Because of this Sam doubts Alicia and thinks about this boy being right. At the end it emphasizes that Rufus is definitly Sam's son. The whole situation makes Alicia feel angry because it seems like Sam isn't trusting her.

"If that's how little you trust me, then everything's pointless, isn't it?" (p.219, ll.22f)

Chapter 17:

Sam's dad meets Sam at a restaurant and wants to tell him that his life with Alicia won't work out. He talks about how it has been with Annie and how their relationship didn't work out because they only cared about the baby and not about themselfes anymore.

"Is he breathing? Has he pooed? Does he need changing? That's all we ever said. We never looked at each other." (p.226, ll.33f, p.227, l.1)

The song "Everything to me":

The song "Everything to me" is written by Mark Schultz and deals with the topic adoption.

Mark Schultz once met a woman who didn't grow up with her biological parents. She told Mark her story which made him think about this topic and which made him write a song about it.
The woman told Mark that her mother had three options: she could have an abortion, she could keep the child or she could give the child away. She said her mom carried her nine months with pain, but at least she decided to give her child away, just to give her child a better future than she ever could. The woman is able to understand why her mom did this - because at least it's been the best for both.

The first impression while listening to the song is that it's a sad song. If you watched the music video, you saw the young mother giving birth to her child and giving it away immediately. For me it seemed like the mom had made a mistake by giving the baby away, although she only tried to do the best for her child.

The video wants to show that adoption isn't always a bad thing.
Of course many people would immediately say that it's wrong letting a baby grow up with foster parents and not with its biological mom because it doesn't seem right giving a baby away from its mom.
But if we think about the fact that some mom's are not able to raise a child or even to care about it. It doesn't matter whether it's because she's an alcoholic or whether she's just too young and it's too much responsibility for her. In such cases it's good that there's the possibility of giving the child a good future with parents who really care for the child and who are able to give it a good future.

Alicia is a mom now. Her baby Rufus is born.
At the beginning of pregnancy Alicia had the same oportunities as every other women. The three options I wrote down above. Alicia has been sure to keep the baby and to take all the responsibility from the beginning.

I think it's pretty brave to do this. I mean, I could NEVER imagine being pregnant at 17 and honestly, I wouldn't know what I would do.
It's tough wanting to get the baby even if you know that you mostly have to give up your whole life you had before.

Let's see how Sam and Alicia get on with this situation. There are three chapters left in our novel to find out!

See you soon :)

Maike