当二胎来敲门：一个四口之家的第一天

2021年9月的一个清晨，北京海淀区某小区的产房门口，32岁的林晓攥着刚出生的儿子的出生证明，脸上却没有初为母亲的喜悦。她的丈夫陈磊蹲在旁边的椅子上，盯着手机里刚发的朋友圈“喜得贵子”，眉头皱得能夹死一只苍蝇——就在刚才，他们7岁的大女儿朵朵，在奶奶的带领下到医院看弟弟，刚进病房就盯着妈妈怀里的弟弟看了三分钟，然后转头就跑，到现在还没回来。

On a crisp September morning in 2021, outside the delivery room of a hospital in Haidian District, Beijing, 32-year-old Lin Xiao clutched her newborn son's birth certificate, but no joy of new motherhood showed on her face. Her husband Chen Lei crouched on a nearby chair, staring at the "Welcome our son" post he had just sent on social media, his brow furrowed so tightly he could crush a fly. Just moments earlier, their 7-year-old daughter Duoduo, accompanied by her grandmother, had come to the hospital to see her new baby brother. She stared at the baby in her mother's arms for three full minutes after entering the ward, then turned and ran, and hadn't returned since.

<!-- 纸书排版提示：本段为本章开篇引入，采用缩进排版，重点内容加粗 --> > 三个月前得知怀了二胎时，朵朵还蹦蹦跳跳地摸着妈妈的肚子，说要给未出生的弟弟妹妹攒满满一罐子橘子味的水果糖——那是她攒了半年的零花钱买的，每一颗都用糖纸仔细包好，上面还画了小爱心。她甚至提前画了十几张画，说要教弟弟妹妹画画，说等弟弟妹妹会走路了，就带他去小区门口的滑滑梯玩。陈磊和林晓当时也拉着朵朵的手承诺：“你永远是我们最宝贝的女儿，弟弟妹妹是来陪你的，不会分走爸爸妈妈的爱。”

> Three months before, when they found out they were having a second child, Duoduo had bounced around touching her mother's belly, saying she would save a full jar of orange-flavored hard candies for her unborn brother or sister—the candies were bought with half a year's saved pocket money, each carefully wrapped in shiny sugar paper with a little heart drawn on it. She had even drawn dozens of pictures in advance, saying she would teach her little sibling to draw, and take them to the slide at the entrance of their residential compound once they could walk. At that time, Chen and Lin had held Duoduo's hand and promised: "You will always be our most precious daughter. The little sibling is here to keep you company, and won't take away Mommy and Daddy's love."

但承诺在新生儿的第一声啼哭里碎得彻底。弟弟出生的第一天，陈磊和林晓整晚都在产房里忙前忙后，喂奶、换尿布、叫护士，朵朵在病房门口的塑料椅上坐了三个小时，最后是奶奶带她回家睡觉的。第二天朵朵再来，想凑过去摸弟弟的小手，奶奶一把拉住她：“别碰，弟弟小，你手上细菌多，碰了他要生病。”朵朵伸着手僵在原地，眼泪在眼眶里打转，又怕被说“不懂事”，硬生生憋了回去。

But those promises shattered the moment the newborn's first cry echoed. On the day of the brother's birth, Chen and Lin were busy all night in the delivery room: feeding the baby, changing diapers, calling the nurse. Duoduo sat on a plastic chair outside the ward for three hours, and was finally taken home to sleep by her grandmother. The next day when she came again, she tried to reach out to touch her little brother's tiny hand, but her grandmother pulled her back sharply: "Don't touch him, he's small, your hands have bacteria, you'll make him sick." Duoduo froze with her hand outstretched, tears welling up in her eyes, but afraid of being called "naughty