So what DID Aunt Lydia think?
She acted shocked that "her girls" were sent to Jezebels and told Serena that she was promised that they would have positions of honor in society.
We know that handmaids get more than one posting, whether or not they "bear fruit". How many babies did she think they had to bear before they got their reward?
We also know she was planning a handmaids farm where handmaids would work in the field by day and the commanders would visit for the ceremony. She planned on sending at least June there (I can't recall if she wanted to send Janine or spare her). How long would they stay there before getting their reward?
It's possible I'm missing things, but it just seems to me that Lydia was blindly ignorant if she really thought handmaids got rewarded.