Shanna Celebrates Her Birth in The "Annie" Designer Hospital Gown!

We wanted to share a beautiful testimonial from Shanna about her experience wearing Annie & Isabel after the birth of her son. Congratulations Shanna! You look gorgeous in the "Annie" designer hospital gown!

"Thank you so much for my amazing Annie gown! After delivering my son, all of my visitors commented on how good I looked considering I'd just given birth. I felt so beautiful in the pink gown, and I love looking back on pictures of me in the hospital. I am so appreciative of the work you are doing to make women feel better about themselves while in the hospital! Thank you again!" ~Shanna

We LOVE testimonials! Submit yours by emailing us at wecare@annieandisabel.com.

Happy Anniversary To Us ~ Our Second Year

It is hard to believe that another year has passed here at Annie & Isabel designer hospital gowns!

We want to thank each and every one of you for your support, love, and encouragement in our second year!

We have grown more than we could have ever imagined. Our gowns have been spotted in hospitals all over the United States and even in countries like Poland, Dubai, Norway, Australia, The United Kingdom and Canada to name a few! We've even unexpectedly seen our hospital gowns being worn by patients in the hospitals we both work in! Those sightings provided us with surreal moments where we have definitely pinched ourselves with excitement.

A few highlights from our second year...

Our Isabel designer hospital gown went to Hollywood and was a mainstay on abc's hit show Private Practice! How amazing it was to see our beautiful Isabel gown in high definition and on actors such as Kate Walsh. 

We loved the excitement that surrounded our celebrity status gown sightings on primetime television, but anyone who knows us really well, knows that we cherish more the "real life" celebrities, or warriors, as we call them, that we honor through our Feel Better Campaign nominations. This past year, we recognized Brianne with cystic fibrosis with her beautiful outlook and attitude. We recognized Pricilla the "Wheelchair Mommy", who doesn't let a wheelchair slow her down. Lastly, we recognized Julie, who, after falling victim in a devastating car accident, not only survived, but has become an inspiration to so many far and near! We want to thank our readers for all the support you have sent to our FBC recipients.

We shared in the joy of so many women as they welcomed babies in style! Several of our original customers have even worn our gowns for a second birth like Ardeep, who welcomed her daughter in our Annie gown and then welcomed her son in our Isabel gown. Such a beautiful family and precious moments captured by the talented Brenda Bisharat Photography.

Our designer hospital gowns have always been popular for pregnancies but, over this last year, we have seen a huge growth in sales for people dealing with all types of medical conditions and also from family members buying them for a loved one in hospice care. We have received positive feedback from customers telling us that their Annie & Isabel hospital gowns made them feel special during a difficult time. It fills our hearts with joy knowing that our gowns can provide comfort and dignity to these patients.  

Some obstacles...

Selena lost her beloved mother-in-law Arlene to cancer. She was one of Annie & Isabel's biggest cheer leaders and always had a brochure in her purse. It was only fitting that she wore all of our gowns in the last weeks of her life. Her 5 year old grandson, George, enjoyed picking out Grandma's hospital gowns {this Anita was his favorite} and loved to stay close to her in her final days. 

Anna was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in January and just finished her treatments. She has been overwhelmed with the love and support of our Annie & Isabel community and will forever treasure all the emails, messages on Facebook, and tweets of encouragement. Thank you.

 On the horizon...

We are about to launch our men's hospital gown line!!! We have two fabrics and have perfected the design. It's going to be a little different, but don't worry men, we've still got you covered!

We are excited to introduce our new Elizabeth hospital gown! We discontinued our original Elizabeth due to fabric unavailability and are in LOVE with our replacement. As always, we donate a portion of each Elizabeth gown sale to the The Navigator Program which directly supports local women and men with breast cancer. We chose this program because our Grandmother, Elizabeth, succumbed to breast cancer and we wanted to honor her in this way.

Thank you again to all our fans and customers who have supported us. What we love most about our company is making connections with all of you. You are the faces of our company and we value every relationship we make. We are inspired on a daily basis by the people we meet through Annie & Isabel and that is what keeps us going so THANK YOU!!!

For our anniversary, we are offering 15% off this week only, Monday - Friday! Please use the checkout code "anniversary" and pass it on to anyone who might need a hospital gown. We still believe everyone should at least have one tucked away in their drawer. Hospital trips are not always planned and you don't want to be caught flapping in the wind! 

14 Year Old Girl Undergoes Open Heart Surgery and Recovers In Her Annie & Isabel Hospital Gown With a Smile

We are so excited to share this next testimonial with you. This is the story of Katie, a 14 year old teenager, who recently underwent successful open heart surgery. The need for open heart surgery came as quite a surprise to Katie and her family. Here is the story in Katie's mother's words:

"Katie enjoys competitive swimming, snow skiing, water skiing, and other outdoor sports. Her pediatrician's office recently placed a greater emphasis on cardiac health in athletic children. Katie's pediatrician referred her for an ultrasound due to a heart murmur that she'd had since birth, even though doctors had repeatedly concluded that this murmur was "innocent".

No one expected the ultrasound to show that Katie's heart was greatly enlarged. After an MRI, doctors confirmed that Katie had a Sinus Venosus Atrial Septal Defect, a hole between the two top chambers of her heart that also affected the right upper pulmonary vein. Given Katie's athleticism and lack of symptoms, this diagnosis came as a great shock! Within a month, Katie was admitted to Children's Hospital Oakland for open heart surgery under the superior care of Dr. Howard Rosenfeld, her cardiologist, and Dr. Frank Hanley, her surgeon."

A week prior to Katie's surgery, her aunt, Jenny, e-mailed us to purchase one of our gowns for her niece. When we found out that her niece was having open heart surgery, we knew right away that Katie was going to require a hospital gown that would allow for cardiac monitoring.

Did you know that Annie & Isabel hospital gowns can be altered to provide a pocket, called a telemetry pocket, that allows for cardiac monitoring? We have done this on several occasions and this is what it looks like:

front of gown with telemetry pocket in middle

This pocket on the front of the hospital gown will hold a portable cardiac monitor and has a two inch button hole like slit that opens to allow for cardiac monitoring cords to come through.  Anyone in the hospital that has cardiac problems or requires any heart surgery will require heart monitoring.

pocket open to show slit where cords come through

We added the telemetry pocket to Katie's Evelyn designer hospital gown and sent it off.  Jenny was kind enough to let us know when Katie was going to have her surgery and told us she would update us on her progress.  We got an update that we never expected!!  Check back tomorrow for the 2nd part of this great story!