Friday, January 23, 2009

The Body of Christ

Well, I'm feeling so blessed!  First, I'd like to say "Praise be to God, for answering my prayer!"  The test results came back and nothing wrong was found that could be the cause of my condition.  I'm so relieved and still so shocked that I have nothing major wrong with me.  I hoped for this result but never dreamed God would answer my prayer this way.  I know many of you were praying for me too and I'm so grateful!  I am incredibly thankful for the network of prayers lifted up on my behalf.  It is overwhelming to be the recipient of such a community of believers who love and care for each other in this way.  It's hard to put into words what it's like to be so surrounded by Christians who ooze the love of Christ.

I have to brag on God and His eye for detail.  Wednesday was my test day and I was told that the MRI/MRA would take an hour and a half and then the CT scan would take another 1/2 hour.  So I was nervous and ready to get it all over with.  We brought Micah with us because I had planned to nurse him as soon as I finished with my appointment.  He also had an ear infection and I didn't want to leave him with my other children alone without an adult since he might not sleep well and could be very fussy.  To my surprise my MRI/MRA only took 20 min. and the CT scan took about 5 minutes!  The hardest part was the IV that they put in to inject the dye for the X-ray.  I wasn't prepared for this.  Needles don't bother me too much but they aren't all that fun either.  As they were finishing up and taking out the IV, they realized that I am a nursing mother.  I'm not sure why we have to fill out paperwork when they don't seem to ever really read it!  Anyway, the cat scan technician began to explain that I will not be able to nurse for the next 48 hours due to the dye being in my endocrine system.  Guess mammary glands are part of the endocrine system. She said that I'll need to "pump and dump."  This curve ball came flying at me right when I was supposed to nurse Micah!  I literally looked at her cross-eyed and thought, "But I don't even own a pump and my baby has never taken a bottle before!  How am I going to work this out?"  Little did I know that God had it all taken care of.

After we left the office I called my friend who lives 10 minutes away and told her my dilemma. By the time I got to her house, she had tracked down a pump for me, found a bottle in the back of her cupboard, and had a huge bag of breast milk that she had in her freezer that she gave me!  We immediately defrosted a bag and prepared him a bottle.  I think I actually held my breath when I introduced it to him.  I had a bib ready since I just knew he would probably spit half of it out.  Well, you'll never believe what happened next!  He downed it in about 5 minutes, acting like he'd been drinking from a bottle all his little life!  I was stunned and so grateful to God for coming through for me again!  He is so faithful.  To top it all off, the lady who loaned me her pump actually said I could keep it!  She doesn't need it anymore and so she just gave it to me!  It's a double, electric pump that probably costs a couple hundred dollars.  

Even though I'm not seeing clearly, I've had a front row seat to view the body of Christ at work! Watching everyone come together to do what they can has been a true blessing.  I've had many wonderful, delicious meals delivered, our house has been cleaned by our church family, many have driven me to special events, and many have run to get groceries for us.  We are well taken care of.  

no worries,
Kristin  
The kids convinced mom to take a picture of her and her 
styling patch. They believe that once everyone sees it, they'll 
want to go out and buy a patch for themselves.  
That's how trends start! (Aye Matey)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kristen, I am just so encouraged to hear all that God is doing on your behalf! It has been a great pleasure to pray for your family. I only wish we were closer to provide for you physically, but I can see that the Lord has taken care of that too and surrounded you with many servants. Thank you for your beautiful blog and sharing the intimate parts of your life. I so appreciate it in more ways than I could describe. You are such an inspiration and blessing to my heart, personally!

In Love and Faith,
Dawn Porter

Elicia said...

It's exciting to hear that you are doing better!