I think the woman are telling as much truth as they can, it's the being married and he is dead stuff they are fibbing about.
That's what I'd do it I was them.
Pregnant with some married man's child or similar situation, buy a wedding ring, head up to Dublin to Margaret Nolan's, have the baby, register it, leave it with Margaret, she finds it a home. You go get yourself a job somewhere in Dublin, you may be paying for the child's care depending how things work out. Might even get it back if you find an understanding husband, pretend he's a widower. No one at home is any the wiser (or pretends not to be).
Sad and all as this is, it's better than years later ending up with the nuns.
