NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Maria Gurrola endured being stabbed by an intruder who kidnapped her 4-day-old baby a year and a half ago, but she says some of the worst lingering harm from the crime has been the financial hardship it caused for her family.

The woman arrested in the case, Tammy Silas, pleaded guilty to kidnapping Monday in federal court in return for a 20-year sentence. The judge could still impose a harsher penalty at the July 11 sentencing, and Silas could withdraw her plea.

Because of the uncertainty, Gurrola said in a Tuesday interview that she could not comment on the court case. Instead she spoke about the effect the Sept. 29, 2009, crime had on her family.

“When this happened, our family was normal,” she said in Spanish. “My husband and I were both working.

“When this happened, I lost my job. My husband missed a lot of work. … We’ve had to pay for doctors, psychologists, eye doctors. We had to move from our house. We had to sell a truck just to pay rent.”

Gurrola said her husband worked in construction and she cleaned houses. Together they made $1,000 to $1,200 a week. That income went to zero for a while and has since rebounded to a few hundred a week. Their rent is $700 a month.

The couple is not in the country legally, but Gurrola said they have applied for a special visa for victims of crime.

The plea agreement spells out how Silas, an Alabama resident, targeted Gurrola at a food assistance office and then went to her home, claiming to be an immigration agent who had come to talk about information the Durango, Mexico, native had supplied to the government.

“The defendant demanded that Gurrola produce the baby and, when she resisted, attacked Gurrola with various items including her fists, beer bottles, a knife found at the residence and zip ties that the defendant had brought with her,” the agreement reads.

Silas took the baby, leaving Gurrola bleeding on the floor. The mother was able to flee to a neighbor’s house and get help.

Investigators found Yahir Anthony Carrillo-Gurrola three days later at Silas’ home in Ardmore, Ala.

Today, Yahir is a chubby, happy 17-month-old who seems to bear no emotional scars from the trauma. The same is not true for two of Gurrola’s older children, who are still in therapy, but improving.

Four-year-old Estrella was at home with her mother at the time of the attack.

“She remembers, but she’s not so traumatized as before,” Gurrola said.

Gurrola said she no longer has nightmares, but she often feels anxious.

“It has completely shattered my sense of peace,” she said.

And she still carries the scars from the attack. A thin vertical line runs down the ridge of her nose and her right eyelid hangs lower than her left. She has some loss of vision in that eye as well and is supposed to get lenses to correct it, but says she can’t afford it.

Verna Wyatt, executive director of the victims’ rights group You Have the Power … Know How to Use It, Inc., said Gurrola’s story of financial hardship is all too common for victims of crime.

“Even a simple purse snatching with $20 in the purse, people don’t think about that you have to replace the purse and then the things that were inside it, like your keys and iPhone,” she said. “So what someone would consider a minor crime could be well over $1,000. … There are all kinds of hidden financial burdens the victim has to bear.”