all Eigendreh!

** Note: The nurse, Anastasia and Oleksandr don’t want their surnames on screen.00:00

Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Carolina Chimoy
00:15 Anastasia | Mother
00:49 Anastasia | Mother
01:18 Oleksandr | Father
01:38 Olha Lyzenko | Gynecologist
02:04 Olha Lyzenko | Gynecologist
02:23 Olena | Nurse

NAT SOUND BABY
A new life begins.
One of 40 babies born in this hospital each month, only a few km from Ukraine’s battlefield.
This is Anastasia’s first baby. 

00:14 - 00:22 
SOT Ansatsia, mother:
“We have a girl, Arisha. Giving birth is happiness, a small baby. My husband and I waited for a long time.” 

They came from a neighboring city because this maternity hospital is now the last refuge for expecting mothers in the area.
But this city too is attacked daily: by rockets, glide bombs, and different types of drones.
This is life in many towns across eastern Ukraine.
More and more people flee to western Ukraine but not everyone can afford higher rents
 
00:48 - 01:11 
SOT Anastasia, mother:
“We will stay at home as long as possible. When it gets impossible for me, for my husband, or for the little one, then we’ll leave.
 But in order to leave, we need to know where to, with a small kid! An apartment in Ukraine is very expensive.”
 
For now, they’re determined: they will not leave their city, just as they refused to postpone having a baby.

01:20 - 01:24 
SOT Oleksandr, father: 
“Times are hard now, but we can’t give up on having kids”
 
Olha is a gynecologist. 
When the full scale invasion began in 2022, she joined the military and worked for over 3 years at a stabilization-point. 
She returned from the army, just days ago.

01:38 - 01:43 
SOT Olha Lyzenko, gynecologist
“They asked me: you want to go as a gynecologist to the warzone? Is this your final decision? I said: yes!”
Bullets. Shrapnel. A grenade exploding in a soldier’s hand. 
The images she shows me are hard to absorb.
From holding off death to helping bring new life, a sharp contrast. 
But challenges remain:

02:01 - 02:10 
SOT Olha Lyzenko, gynecologist:
“There are much fewer people working here than before the war. 
Considering the fact that we are the only maternity hospital in the region, there are not enough workers”
 
Gynecologists are now needed here. That is why Olha came back.
Some members of her old team are also still here, like Olena, the head nurse, who has worked here for almost 40 years. 

02:24 - 02:27 
SOT, Olena, nurse:
“But this is our life now, we have to continue.” 
Even under these conditions, and with other maternity hospitals in the region closed, Olha, Olena, and their team bring a baby into this world, almost every day.
They can deliver and perform emergency C-sections even under heavy bombardment.

02:42 - 02:49 
SOT Olha Lyzenko, gynecologist:
“We have the conditions, an equipped bomb shelter. 
We have an operating table, there are conditions for giving birth.”
 
We are not allowed to go to the shelter if there is no air raid. 
These images are Anastasia’s. 
A few weeks ago, the hospital came under heavy attack…
Missiles landed just meters away…
Pregnant women and staff rushed to the shelter…
Hours later: shattered windows, glass everywhere…
An everyday risk. 
A day after we filmed, the hospital was attacked again…
The next day, it’s time for Anastasia to go home with little ARISHA 
 
All 4 grandparents arrive to welcome the new member into a world marked by the sound of bombs and the refuge in the underground shelters.
 
Anastasia tells us later she hopes the war will soon just be another chapter in the history books… when their little daughter starts going to school.
 
3:45
END
 
** Note: The nurse, Anastasia and Oleksandr don’t want their surnames on screen.