Blessed

I wanted to write a quick note and thank those of you who have been praying for me this week and to update everyone on what has been going on. A week ago tonight I started experiencing severe pain in my leg. Chalking it up to another pregnancy mystery I tried to sleep it off. Throughout the night my leg began to hurt worse and I was not able to sleep. By dawn, my leg was painfully swollen and was beginning to turn purple. Rob had left for church before it had gotten too bad, so my Mom drove me to the hospital. To make a long story short, it turns out that I had a deep vein thrombosis, which is another word for a blot clot deep down in a vein. The doctors immediately knew that this was not a good situation, but fortunately they spared me the knowledge of how severe it was. I spent 5 days in the hospital and was able to come home on Thursday where I am currently on bed rest until further notice. I am still in more pain than I have ever been in, but honestly, I feel so lucky to be here.

Rob and I did not find out until later that DVT can spread to the lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism. We knew the doctors were very concerned and wouldn't let me move at all for 48 hours, but we didn't know how real the danger was until it had passed. In researching DVT, we discovered that more people die from a pulmonary embolism each year than breast cancer and AIDS combined.

I feel for certain that this blood clot would have manifested at some point in my life, and we are so thankful that it was just in my leg instead of in my lungs or in my brain. I will probably be on blood thinners for the rest of my life, but the chance of my ever having a clot again has decreased significantly. I can't help but feel that this clot coming at this time somehow saved me from something far worse later on.

I want to thank everyone so much for all of the calls, e-mails, flowers, and gifts. It has been absolutely overwhelming. One day in the hospital, after they brought more flowers in, I just started to cry. I felt so loved and cared for and I cannot tell you how much that has meant. Rob and I have been in disbelief at how amazing our support system has been and I have never felt more prayed over than I have this past week.

I do ask for continued prayers as I heal and try to begin walking again. I really don't have a time frame as to when that will be. Right now, I can hobble around in 10 minute increments before I am done, but we are hopeful that I will get stronger every day. Please pray for Rob as he tries to do everything that I cannot while still working and keeping the house running. He has been amazing every step of the way and I don't know what I would have done without him or my parents who have filled in when he was unable to be with me.

The most wonderful news of all is that little Bennett is perfectly fine. She is kicking more than ever and none of this has seemed to affect her in the least. Another prayer is that I will be 100% by the time she is born so I will be able to take her on walks and hold her as if nothing had ever happened.

Thank you again for being the hands and feet of Christ and showing us what true unselfish love looks like. We pray you have a Merry Christmas. We know that we will.