New Mother Fighting Hard After Heartbreaking Diagnosis

Two weeks ago we shared with you the story of Emily, whose mother passed away before she received her Annie & Isabel designer hospital gowns. Emily chose to donate the gowns to other well deserving women who were going through some life challenges. The first gown was donated to Jaime, who is battling cervical cancer.  You can read about Emily and Jaime here : "Passing Along The Love".

Yesterday we learned of a beautiful new mother who was diagnosed with brain cancer just two days after giving birth to her baby boy. Tammy was 5 months pregnant when doctors discovered she had a small tumor in her brain. They planned on waiting until after her baby was born to surgically remove the tumor, however, a few months later, Tammy started having more severe headaches. Another MRI was performed which showed that her tumor had grown by over 50% from the previous MRI. It was determined that Tammy needed to have surgery sooner rather than later. Tammy delivered a healthy baby boy on March 20th via c-section and two days later went in for surgery to remove her brain tumor. Unfortunately, doctors were unable to completely remove her tumor and the pathology came back that the tumor was an aggressive form of cancer called atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor. She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer due to the fact that it had already spread within the brain and to her spine.

Tammy after surgery to remove part of her brain tumor

Tammy has been in the hospital since the birth of her baby, receiving chemotherapy and radiation. She has been unable to walk during this time but she has maintained a positive attitude and a will to fight as you can see from the beautiful smile in all these pictures.

Tammy showing off her sweet baby after a radiation treatment

Tammy is twenty-eight years old and needs as many thoughts and prayers sent her way to help her continue to fight through her treatments and kick cancer!

Tammy with her husband and newborn baby boy

When we heard about Tammy, we knew she would be the perfect person to receive the second hospital gown that Emily donated. Due to Emily's generosity, we will be able to help brighten Tammy's hospital stays a little more with our "Anita" hospital gown. Tammy picked out the Anita hospital gown herself and we think it is just perfect for her.  

The card that comes with our Anita gown says "May home always be your comfort". Our wish for Tammy is that she may become cancer free and soon enjoy the comforts of her own home!

Tammy, we are sending thoughts and prayers your way. Hold on tight to your sweet baby boy, your loving husband and family, and fight hard. Hopefully you can find strength from the many people that are already sending prayers your way.  

A Husband's Take on Wearing Annie & Isabel!!

We always think it is so adorable when a daddy-to-be buys his wife one or two of our designer hospital gowns for the birth of their child. Husbands can feel helpless in the delivery room and by giving the gift of comfort, dignity, and style for the big event…he will definitely be the talk of the labor and delivery ward! This testimonial is from a dear friend Tracy, who we met years ago as we were starting our business. She sent us this funny quote from her husband about his take on her experience wearing our Anita designer hospital gown for the birth of their second son Micah, 

"WOW! Of all the things nurses and your visitors would say to you while you are here at the hospital… every single one of them have commented on your hospital gown and how cute it is!"

Thank you Tracy for sharing these gorgeous photos with all of us. We are so happy you will get to experience the magic of brothers. It is something really special! 

Micah James

born 

May 29th, 2012 at 8:22 pm

7 pounds 4 oz ~ 19.5 in

After A Tragic Loss Jami Welcomes Baby Shailo

We have been blessed with so many friendships created through our business. One friendship we cherish is with Jami of the blog Colour Her Hope. We first "met" her when she was pregnant with her second child Eisley. She blogged beautifully about her complicated pregnancy with Eisley and we, along with her many readers, friends, and family, stood by her side as Eisley went to be with Jesus on September 14th, 2010. Jami blogged through her most intimate feelings of sadness, grief, and healing truly capturing the hearts of so many. We kept her in our daily thoughts and prayers and she continues to amaze us with her strength and grace. 

We were so happy to hear that Jami was going to be blessed with another beautiful child after the loss of her baby girl Eisley. She blogged about her pregnancy again and told us she wanted to purchase an Annie & Isabel hospital gown. She couldn't decide on her favorite, so she enlisted the help of her readers in this post here. As you can see from the beautiful moments captured below, the Anita gown was the winner as she welcomed baby boy Shailo Valour on November 8, 2011!

Here is what Jami said about wearing her Anita gown, 

                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                    "I felt so pretty in my Annie & Isabel hospital gown. And... oh my word did I receive so many comments about how beautiful and unique my gown was from family, friends, and nurses! One day I even had a nurse pull in a few more ladies just to show off my gown to them. Thank you so much for starting Annie & Isabel and blessing so many of us with your stunning designs."

-Jami of color her {hope}

Connie Welcomes Beautiful Baby Boy in the Anita Hospital Gown

We just love sweet baby boys and when a new mom is celebrating the birth of her third son, we get SO excited for her! Boys are all that we know. Between the two of us we have six of them, so we know that the bond between brothers is a magical thing. We received this beautiful testimonial and pictures from Connie. She looks radiant in her Anita designer hospital gown! We want to thank Connie for sharing this special memory and gorgeous family of boys with all of us!!!   

"There is something special about being able to wear a hospital gown that makes you feel beautiful at a time where you may feel a bit out of sorts. We have three wonderful boys, but I was only fortunate to wear an Annie & Isabel gown on the last go around. What a difference it makes to be wearing something that you feel good in. Thank you so much for adding to the beauty of the experience of having a child and I look forward to sharing Annie & Isabel with friends and family." ~ Connie

Congrats Connie!!  You have a beautiful family.

Another New Baby and Happy Mama in Two Annie & Isabel Hospital Gowns

We just received a beautiful testimonial from a friend of mine from nursing school. This is Melody with her husband, Nhan, and their precious little baby boy. I remember not long after she got pregnant, she contacted me saying how she HAD to have an Annie & Isabel hospital gown....or two..... for her delivery!!! She told me that, being a nurse, she knows what gets on those standard hospital gowns and how relieved she was that we came up with this company because now she wouldn't have to wear a yucky old hospital gown for her delivery. Melody had the unfortunate experience of spending a couple days in the hospital early on in her pregnancy and ended up on bedrest for a long time prior to her delivery so she got lots of use out of her gowns.

Please click HERE to read Melody's testimonial and see more pictures!!

Annie & Isabel Designer Hospital Gown Giveaway with MckMama

MCKMAMA AND HER NEWEST BLESSING, BABY LACHLAN

I have always loved reading blogs, long before my sister and I started our business selling designer hospital gowns. We have found some inspirational people and amazing stories from people who have allowed us to "read in" on their lives through their blogs. One day I came across a blog written by a mother, Jennifer McKinney, known by readers as MckMama. Her unborn baby and fourth child, Stellan, had a heart condition called supraventricular tachycardia, or SVT. SVT was causing Stellan's heart to beat at an accelerated and dangerous rate. This interested us because of our medical background and because we are mothers ourselves. We prayed as we followed along through the ups and downs of his fight for life. You can read more about Stellan's amazing story here.

MckMama is well known for blogging about her daily life raising her "Many Small Children", as she calls them. She is a talented photographer, and her blog is full of her creative and colorful work documenting her children's lives. As our company was making its' debut, MckMama's sister, Hilary, was getting ready to welcome her first child. We asked Hilary if she wanted to try out our first sample designer hospital gown and so she became the very first person to wear one of our gowns. She was so gracious and had nothing but wonderful things to say about her experience in our "Annie Gown" which you can read about on MckMama's blog here and find those compliments on our testimonial page. We were so excited to hear this feedback from Hilary......for the first time, our dream was beginning to be a reality.

HILARY IN OUR ANNIE GOWN ABOUT TO WELCOME HER FIRST DAUGHTER

Fast forward a few months and MckMama had exciting news of her own....she was expecting her fifth child! In the short time between Hilary's delivery and MckMama approaching due date, Annie & Isabel was in full swing. Nearing the end of MckMama's recent pregnancy she required several hospitalizations and was able to use both our "Anita" and "Evelyn" hospital gowns. We are glad that our hospital gowns were able to provide her with some comfort and dignity during these stays.

BABY LACHLAN SNUGGLED IN HIS MAMA'S BELLY JUST MOMENTS BEFORE HIS ARRIVAL!

With much anticipation, on August 2, 2010, MckMama donned her "Evelyn" Annie & Isabel designer hospital gown as she prepared to go in for her c-section. She and her family welcomed a new little miracle to the family, baby Lachlan.

This is what MckMama had to say about her experience wearing her Annie & Isabel designer hospital gowns:

"I was hospitalized a few times before actually giving birth to our fifth baby. Each time, I asked my husband to bring me one of my Annie & Isabel gowns to wear. I got compliments from my nurses constantly. Thank you, Annie & Isabel, for allowing me to feel pretty... even in the hospital! My favorite gown is the Evelyn, and I wore that one when I gave birth to our sweet son, Lachlan. Besides how gorgeous the high quality gowns are, I loved the ribbon ties and the fact that the back wraps around to the side, tying on the hip. I was wheeled and walked up to the Special Care Nursery to nurse our new baby many, many times those first days. When wearing my Annie & Isabel gown, I felt lovely and completely covered up! The nurses constantly said they wished that all the gowns on the Labor and Delivery floor were so great. Thank you for beautifying my birthing experience with your gowns!!"

MCKMAMA'S "MANY SMALL CHILDREN" ENJOYING THEIR SWEET BABY BROTHER

As we congratulate the MckMama family, Jennifer was gracious enough to host a giveaway for us to help spread the word about our company Annie & Isabel. Watch her Facebook and Twitter pages for more details about the giveaway tomorrow, Wednesday, August 25th. You can "like" MckMama on Facebook here and follow her on Twitter here. Good luck!

Live Radio Broadcast About Annie & Isabel!!

We had a wonderful surprise this week. We received an email from world renowned author and lifestyle expert, Kimberly Schlegel Whitman. Kimberly does a daily lifestyle segment on Dallas, Texas radio station 103.7's the Gene and Julie show. This is the #1 morning show in Dallas, Texas and they were nominated as "The Best Morning Show in America" from 2004 to 2008. She found our website and loves our product so much that she is featuring us on her radio show this Monday, August 9th at 8am Central time!!!







Kimberly is the author of four books on entertaining and has made appearances as a style expert on The Tyra Banks Show, CBS The Early Show, Rachael Ray, Fine Living and HGTV, WB In The Morning, to name a few. She was also a featured event planner for Style Network's hit show, "Whose Wedding is it Anyway?". In addition, Kimberly has been a successful entrepreneur in event planning which has landed her in publications such as Vanity Fair, Elle, Vogue, Town & Country, The Wall Street Journal and many, many more.



Needless to say, we are very honored that she has chosen to highlight us! Please tune in Monday to 103.7 the Gene & Julie show at 8am if you are in the Dallas area. For everyone else, you can go to this link -> Gene & Julie website and click on the area at the right upper corner that says "Listen Live". If you can't wake up that early we will post the link once it is up. You can also go to the website and look for the link to the show on Monday.