Dear Kathryn, I too was at Assisi in 1965, where I had my son. I remember having to clean the chapel and use a big floor polisher right up to the day I went into labour. I also had to move to a house in the grounds after lying in and spent the days keeping the boiler stoked up. There were few nuns and the girls did all the work. We were only allowed to see our babies, who were kept in a nursery, when we fed them.
Despite my family's wishes, I refused to give up my son and with two other girls rented a flat in London and we all went back to work and used the same babyminder. I did not find the nuns cruel, having been in a convent school as a boarder. They were unsentimental and just did their job. Being so shorthanded they had little time to be sympathetic or indulgent. I hope you managed to find your son again. Kind regards.
