Another plea for prayers

Hi again,

So I know I have asked for a lot of prayers lately.  And you all have been AMAZING with sending up prayers for Kenya, and then also for my friend's baby Ainsley when she was sick.  And here I am again asking for more, but this time they are for me.

A little precaution... this stuff about me is a little yucky and disturbing.  So if you want to just close this blog out right now and say "Dear God, please help Kristin get better", I am 100% good with that.  But if you want to know more details, read at your own risk.

So to start off, my recovery from the birth... not sure how to put this nicely, but basically, because of the way the doctors handled the birth and because of the trauma, the damage done was both internal and external and very, very severe.  Like as in, as severe as it can get.  I will spare all the yucky details of what this means, but the doctor told me last week that I should expect 6 months before being able to sit again.  This was a hard pill for me to swallow.  She said I shouldn't be spending more than 20 minutes a day on my feet.  Which... to answer a lot of your questions that I've been getting ... this means I can't start or run a safehouse right now... I can't look for a teaching job around here... and I can't adequately care for my daughter or myself without a lot of help (thankfully though I am blessed with wonderful family who are taking care of both of us).  I am supposed to start physical therapy in a few weeks once I am a little better and start the long road to recovery.

I know I explained before, vaguely, that I had some infections when I got to the states.  You can skip this paragraph if you want.  But if you want to know, this is what happened... when I was in the hospital with Kenya and taking care of her in the DR, I kinda stopped taking care of me.... which meant that my stitches tore open again and got a lot worse... and then they got infected... and then the infection spread into my bladder.  These are what I was talking about when I said I had infections coming into the states.  I went to the ER when we got here and started the anti-biotic Keflex.  And I was starting to get better... BUT... after finishing the med, I started getting really severe flu symptoms.  And they have lasted for 8 days now. (not the way I planned on losing my baby weight)  And I'm trying not to worry, but they are getting worse, not better, and I am really hoping and praying that I don't have one of the rare, long-term side effects listed for Keflex.  This has had me pretty low lately (literally on the bathroom floor kinda low) and I think Kenya is ready for something other than Gatorade and saltines in her diet, so if you would pray for this, I would appreciate this too.

One last thing... and this might sound really shallow and superficial to ask for prayer for this in comparison to everything else, but I am going to ask anyways.  When we left the DR to come to the states, we booked plane tickets as soon as we got Kenya's passport and went straight to the airport without stopping home to pack a suitcase.  So we left everything behind and came with not much more than the clothes on our backs (and some things our awesome brother and sister in law Tim and Paola sent to the airport for us and Kenya too).  And we were okay with leaving everything we own behind cause it's just stuff... and the most important thing is our daughter.  But one of the things I left behind was my wedding ring (cause I was too swollen to wear it at the end of my pregnancy) and now it's lost/stolen and no one can find it (along with some of our other valuables that were lost/stolen, but this is what I'm the most worried about).  I know in the grand scheme of things, it is just a thing and is not important at all but I still can't help but be sad about it and hope and pray that it will turn up.

So this is it... there is some other junk too... but I will spare you that stuff cause this is what I'd like you to please pray for.  And I hope it doesn't sound like I'm just venting and complaining because I know I am SOOO blessed to have my baby girl healthy again and I am so thankful for that.  So please don't get me wrong.  I seriously cannot thank God enough for the miracles He has done.  I know that we are oh so blessed.  But if you would be willing to now pray for me, not for a miracle, but just that I can get just a little better, just enough to be able to take care of my baby girl again and enjoy her and this time with her, that would mean a lot to me.  And please continue to pray for Baby Kenya too as she transitions to life here.  After all that she has been through, being pumped full of so many drugs and with me being so sick, it has not been easy for her.  But she is such a trooper and is doing great considering all she has been through.

Thanks for all of your prayers, and for all of your kindness and generosity in helping us these past few weeks, it has meant so much to us.  Also, please please forgive me if you contacted me and I haven't gotten back to you.  I was doing good getting back to people until I got knocked on the floor sick and I know there are a lot of people I haven't been in touch with, so please forgive me as I continue to slowly get back to everyone.

Also, since I'm asking for all of these prayers for me, please let me know if I can pray for YOU.  Since I'm restricted to total bedrest, there is not a lot I can do these days, but prayer is something that I can do.  And it will help me to keep me head up while I'm down and help me not to focus so much on my own issues but on others, so I would love to create a prayer list of other people I can pray for.

Okay, that's all for now.  Thanks again to all of you for your continuous love, prayers, and support.

Love,
Kristin