Mama In Need

Amazon List: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3928LUOSW2LIO?ref_=wl_share. Lauren’s Story & images are below!

I received an email this past week from a sweet mama in our community here. Below is her story. If you are in a position to give, let’s rally together & bless her and her beautiful family this season. Their Amazon wishlist is posted at this top of this post.

My name is Lauren. I have a husband and a beautiful two year old daughter that we finalized our adoption for this year. I am a NICU nurse, and I fell in love with this girl, and I ended up calling my husband on shift—after a long  battle with infertility, asking if he’d be willing to foster a sweet baby girl. At the time, we were actually living in Tulsa, and I worked at Saint Francis Children’s Hospital. Thankfully, I married the best guy around, and he agreed and felt God’s tug as well. It was so beautifully orchestrated by Him. We’d been longing to be parents, and she needed a family. I came on shift to find out her foster family had fallen through, and 24 hours later, we were taking her home. She’s been the biggest blessing to us ever since. God is good, and His plan was so much better than ours. My story for the year actually begins with her adoption this past April. I got Covid and then became so sick with a GI bug. I wasn’t able to make it to her adoption in person because I was so ill. I don’t know if I’ll ever get rid of that sting. Several weeks later, and I still wasn’t feeling any better. I had to be hospitalized for a bowel obstruction for a week, and then I was sent home. Two days later, my ileum ruptured. I was taken to emergency surgery on Mother’s Day. My year was repaired, then my abdomen washed out, and I was kept open. The next day, I went to surgery again for an ileostomy. I was in the ICU for a week and a half being treated for sepsis. It was touch and go for a while as to whether or not I would make it. I lived with the ileostomy for three and a half months. I was hospitalized twice for abscesses within my abdomen. During this time, my mother suffered a severe mental health crisis, and she refuses to get help. She sent me messages while in the hospital saying things like, “I hope you die in there. You ruined my life”. She has extremely delusional and paranoid behavior, thinking that the president is listening to her conversations and having her followed. It’s been devastating. My mom used to be my best friend, and now I don’t even recognize her. Mental illness is so hard. She’s chosen to be homeless now, and it hurts every time I think about it. Mental illness is so hard. To top everything off, my father passed away after being hospitalized with Covid in October. It’s felt like I’ve lost both my parents. I have had some major complications with nutrient absorption and liver issues since my surgery. I have not yet been able to return to work due to my sustained health issues, so I lost my job. We are swimming in debt and medical bills. Every year that I’ve been narried to my husband, I’ve had a major health crisis. In 2017, my ureter to my right (and only) kidney was torn during a procedure to remove a kidney stone. I had to have a nephrostomy tube for two months, and we had to postpone our wedding. We’ve just been through it. We have debt collectors calling daily. My husband is a paramedic and is such a rock to our family. He’s been working every extra shift he can, and he’s exhausted. We hardly see one another anymore because he’s working to try to keep our family afloat.  We could just really use a break and some help. I want more than anything to be able to give my best to my family, and right now, I’m still a work in progress. If you’d consider helping us by sharing our Amazon family Christmas wishlist, I cannot tell you how grateful we would be. I know you do plenty of community giving during the holidays, and I know you have no obligation or reason to help us. I am just hoping for a miracle and a way to help my family. You have used your Instagram to be a source of joy to others. It means so much when influencers use their platform for good. I’m embarrassed that I’ve even asked, but I love my husband and my daughter more than anything and would do anything to give them what they deserve. I hope you see this and consider helping us by sharing with your Instagram community. Even if not, thank you for letting me share my story. I cannot thank you enough for being such a light on social media and encouraging others to love and live the life they have.  I hope you and your family have a blessed holiday season.

XOXO