In This Season of Giving, Read About How This New Mom Gave the Gift of Life to Another Family

We always say that it is our customer's testimonials that give us the motivation and energy to continue our mission of helping women (and soon to be men) feel comforted and dignified during their hospital stays. This new testimonial did just that and brought tears to our eyes. We think it is the perfect story to share during this holiday season.    

This new mother made a huge sacrifice to bless another family with the gift of life and we LOVE that our Annie & Isabel hospital gowns were a part of this special journey. We are sending warm wishes to the amazing Elizabeth and her family. She truly is a real life ANGEL! 

"My surrogate journey started with the movie "Baby Mama", which is nothing like the actual process, at all. My husband and I have a 2 year old little girl named Lillian and we can't imagine our lives without her. My pregnancy was a breeze and labor with her was easy, 3 hours, no epidural, and no tearing (sorry if that's TMI) As the doctor was cleaning my daughter off I looked to my husband and told him I want to give the gift of a child to another family. I felt in my heart that it was my calling to give a family their own precious little face to look at and love on. I was required to wait until I was medically cleared by my OB before I could apply for the surrogate program ConcieveAbiltities in Denver CO. 

In December of 2011, sitting in a hotel room in Denver, while my 3 months old daughter slept. I filled out my application to be a surrogate. Three weeks later I got the email saying I was invited into the program. I could not have been more excited. From that moment on it was a slow and steady process. We had our match meeting, went over the legal aspects, and signed the contracts. 

Nine months after submitting my application it was transfer day! October 15, 2012 two (yes two) perfect embryos were transferred into what we hoped would be there oven for the next 9 months, me. I was on doctor ordered bed rest for 48 hours and as soon as the bed rest was lifted I knew I was pregnant! I was short of breath and craved orange juice which were the only two symptoms I had when I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. So, nine days post transfer I took a home pregnancy test and got a big fat positive. After a blood test, the doctor confirmed it, I was pregnant! Then at 8 weeks we saw 2 sacs and 2...count em.....2 heartbeats!

Through the process the intended parents were very standoffish and were excited but didn't show it. They attended none of the appointments except the hospital tour when I was 20 weeks pregnant. The disconnect between my family and the intended parents is what brought me to Annie and Isabel. 

While the other surrogates were having baby showers thrown by/for their intended parents I was home with my loving husband and daughter. Their baby showers inspired me to treat myself to a few luxury items for my delivery. I entered "designer hospital gowns" into the google search bar. There were 4 companies listed before Annie and Isabel, but their back stories and customer testimonials are what hooked me. Those and the fact they had an Elizabeth gown!

I had no hesitation in ordering my gowns (yes I got two). The sizing was easy to understand, the designs are adorable, and the gowns cover everything. Being that I'm 6 ft tall, some gowns tend to be a little short. What really sold me was the fact that the gowns had pockets. I even had a pocket sewn into my wedding dress. I have to have my phone and chap-stick at all times. 

I checked my shipment status every few hours to make sure they were on their way. I opened the box and tears filled my eyes. They were gorgeous and I knew they would help in my recovery. I gushed over them for a few days before packing them in my hospital bag to await the faithful day when I would give mom and dad their precious cargo back.

The big day came and everything went so fast. The twins were born on May 25, 2013 via c-section happy and healthy. I was wheeled into recovery where my husband was waiting for me. I remembered him kissing me on the forehead and holding my Annie gown up. "When you are able to walk I will give you your gown my princess." That was all the motivation I needed, I was in my gown just after dark.

As my husband and I walked through the hospital (sometimes 4-5 times a day) there was always a comment made or a question asked about my gown. I answered every question with joy and a smile. I wanted everybody to know what an impact a beautiful gown can have on their recovery. But the gowns were not packed away after the twins. I keep them handy for any and every hospital trip, which included my several ER visits for kidney infections caused by my catheter.

Thank you Annie and Isabel for the wonderful, beautiful, and modest gowns." 

Yours Truly,
Elizabeth  
Proud Surrogate

[GIVEAWAY} THE MOMMY MEASURE

You might have thought we were done with our giveaways but SURPRISE!!! We have a couple more fun giveaways including today's giveaway with Mommy Measure! We have followed this company for several years and have always LOVED this product.  

Mommy Measure is a decorative measuring tape that gives mother's a fun new way of documenting their pregnancy. It's an all-in-one pregnancy growth chart and journal. You can document your belly growth with the measuring tape and it comes complete with a marker that allows you to write a little milestone at the time of measurement. It's simple, easy, cute and fun!!

I Instagrammed this picture at 24 weeks when I really started feeling my baby boy kicking at night.

It's so fun to see how much my belly has grown throughout this pregnancy.

It's hard to believe I am in the homestretch of my pregnancy. My two boys can't wait to meet their new little brother and have so much fun helping me measure my tummy.

Mommy Measure is generously giving away two of their measuring tape kits for two lucky winners!! See below to enter and GOOD LUCK!!


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{GIVEAWAY} FROM PEA TO PUMPKIN :: A PREGNANCY JOURNAL

In case you missed it, we made a very special announcement here at Annie & Isabel yesterday! So, we thought it would be very appropriate to kick off our giveaways with the adorable Pea to Pumpkin Pregnancy Journal!

Pea to Pumpkin is a journal that helps you document your pregnancy in a simple, yet SO very special way. This is my third pregnancy...and sadly, I have to admit...I started a journal with my first pregnancy that lasted about 12 weeks. With my second pregnancy, I was so busy with my toddler that I never even started a journal! When my sister gave me a Pea to Pumpkin journal this time around, I thought...I can do this! It is an adorable and easy way to track progress weekly and I know I will cherish it forever. It will be nice to reflect back on this time years from now and maybe even share it with my little "18 week avacado" {as of today} when he grows up. Here is a little preview of the journal...

I LOVE LOVE my journal. I want to remember every single day of this pregnancy. This is a pregnancy that I thought I would never have. We've waited 3 plus long years for this little guy and I want to remember this time of joy and gratitude for many years to come. Pea to Pumpkin has allowed me to keep track of every week, even with my busy life!

We will be giving away one Pea to Pumpkin pregnancy journal to one of our lucky fans! See contest details below.. entry is easy!

To learn more about Pea to Pumpkin please visit their website HERE. 

Good luck to all! 

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Feel Better Campaign Recipient Needs Prayers ~ Delivering Baby Boy With Heart Defect Tomorrow

We are so happy to welcome the Marpepp family into our Feel Better Campaign. We learned about this family through a Facebook page we follow called, Enjoying the Small Things - Kelle Hampton. The mother, Jessica Marpepp, wrote the following message on Kelle's Facebook wall:

"Dear Kelle,

I hope you don't mind but I'm going to pour my heart out to you a little bit. From the first day I read your blog, I felt a kind of hope, and peace, and strength. I think, on some level, God brought me to you to prepare myself. I have a typical (and wonderful) little boy who is 2.5 and I am due on February 25th with another little boy who has been diagnosed with two heart defects. From the first weeks of pregnancy, I felt that something was wrong. I bled, he had a scarily thickenened nuchal translucency, it was one thing after another. The doctors kept telling me to prepare for a miscarriage but the universe had other plans, and my little boy and I held on to each other. When they started doing all the tests, I was nervous, but because your blog had introduced so much love and acceptance for all children, I just wanted my child to survive. After the heart tests, the doctors brought me into a conference room - let me tell you - you never want to be invited into a conference room. Once there, they pulled out a diagram of his heart and pointed to the chamber that just couldn't make it work right. Phrases like "long road" were thrown around. I nodded and took notes and held my breath. Then I got home and wept and grieved in the ways I needed to grieve. And then I read your blog and felt hope and love again. I realized that I was ready to walk that long road and that, in fact, I was filled with joy that this child was coming into my life."

Jessica is going to give birth to her second son tomorrow via c-section and her baby boy will have some significant heart defects that will eventually require surgery. It is a very exciting time for them as they will be adding a new little one to the family, yet, it is also very scary because they will not know what to expect until he is born. We would LOVE your help in surrounding her family with love, good thoughts, and prayer.We are hoping this new little baby boy will be able to overcome any obstacles and enjoy a sweet life with his big brother and family.

Mother, Jessica, and Big Brother:-)

So, once again, we are asking for you help in spreading her story by hitting "LIKE" on our Facebook post and by sharing this post to get this to go viral and get a huge number of people behind this family!! We need you to start firing up the prayers tonight to hopefully bring a stable little baby into the world tomorrow. You have done it before so LET'S DO IT AGAIN!!! Please also leave messages of support underneath the Facebook post.  

Jessica picked out the "Isabel" designer hospital gown to wear as she welcomes her little boy into the world and we love why she chose this gown. 

The card we send with all our "Isabel" gowns says, "We Wish You the Grace and Strength of Our Grandmother". Jessica wrote to us saying, 

"My Grandmother was an amazing woman and I felt like maybe this gown would lend me a bit of YOUR grandmother's grace and strength on top of my Grandmother's memory.How could I go wrong with that?" 

We completely agree, Jessica. You have already shown great strength throughout this pregnancy and we know our grandmother and your grandmother will provide even more strength as you embark on this new journey. Hugs!!

Tiffany Darlyn Hospital Gown Giveaway Winner!!!

We want to thank everyone who entered the Tiffany Darlyn hospital gown giveaway and a special thanks to Tiffany for hosting this giveaway!!!  We had over 100 entries into the contest which is awesome.  It was really fun to read through all the entries to see which gown each person would choose and what they would be using the hospital gown for.  The majority of women chose the Susan gown and most planned on using their designer hospital gown for pregnancy but we also had other entries from people that planned to use it for a surgery or as a gift to someone dealing with a chronic illness which is such a wonderful gift!!  We even  had a few men enter our contest to gift it to their wives or family members for an upcoming delivery.  How great is that??!!

Before we announce the winner we just want to say how much we appreciate everyone's support and we would like to offer a 15% discount to all those who entered our contest.  You can use discount code "TiffanyDarlyn" when you check out from our store.  This discount code will expire one week from today on Tuesday, July 19th.

OK....now what you have all been waiting for.  Here is a hint.....this person said they hoped to win the "Annie" hospital gown.

Using Random.org we chose our winner......and the winner is.........

On our blog the winner entered as JMeeTV and her name is Jamie Jones.  Congrats Jamie!!!  Please contact us ASAP to claim you new designer hospital gown.  You will definitely be the most stylish, comfortable and dignified woman in the hospital:-)

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!!

Introducing The Susan Designer Hospital Gown

Most of you have seen our newest designer hospital gown, The Susan. We FINALLY want to officially introduce the gown to you and give you the story behind the naming of this gown. This is such a hard post to write, because we have so much we want to say!

The Susan gown is a very special gown and named after our beloved mother, Susan. We have honored our loved ones of the past with our 5 other gowns, but the newest addition to our collection is in honor of our best friend and mother, Susan.

Anyone who knows our mother knows what a special person she really is. She always has her family as the center of her being. She loves geneology and researching our roots. She has single handedly kept so many of the memories of our ancestors, who have left this life, ALIVE with her research and stories....stories that we treasure and will share with our children and grandchildren. Maybe that is why we ourselves have incorporated so much of who we are into the naming of these designer hospital gowns and into our business.

We will forever cherish the home videos that our mother took of our Great Grandma Annie telling her stories from the farm... or the love letters she compiled between our Grandmother Elizabeth and Grandpa Jack while he was fighting the war (those could be a best selling book.. so romantic!) It is very important to our mother to document everything about our loved ones so that their legacy will always live on through each generation. How lucky are we that we know the roots from where we came?! We have even had the fortune to visit the homelands of these relatives in the Azores, Portugal and Ireland which was such a blessing because it made us realize how special these people were and the hardships they endured to give us the freedoms we enjoy today in America.

Our Mother Susan

Family is so important to our mother that she also chose to name each of her children after people in our family. We loved this so much that we, too, have kept the tradition going and have named each of our boys after someone in our family. What is so special about this is that our children will always know about the people they were named after which, in turn, keeps their stories and names ALIVE!! We can't wait to tell Jack more about how dapper his Great-Grandpa Jack was and how people called him Gentleman Jack... or tell George that his Great-Grandfather George bravely lived through the Armenian Genocide when many men in his family did not... he was a little boy who was dressed as a girl, as the women and girls were initially spared from execution. Without their bravery we would not be where we are today or who we are today. All of this is important to us because of our amazing mother.

If you have purchased one of our Annie & Isabel gowns, you know that you receive a card with the gown that shares the story of the gowns namesake. We would like to share The Susan Card with you...

Our mother, Susan, has always taught us to be caring women and see the good in everyone. This really helps us in our work as nurses in the hospital. We are frequently challenged with difficult patients and sometimes it is hard not to judge them. We have been taught by our mother to always think about what these patients have gone through that has made them the way they are today. Instead of passing judgement, we often times feel sympathy for them. As nurses it is not our place to judge. We always aim to care for the patient in the best way possible. Many days at work we channel our mother to give us strength to carry on.... and many days we need this strength in a big way!

If you have read our previous posts, you know how hard it was to obtain The Susan Gown material. When we had it reprinted exclusively for Annie & Isabel, we knew it was a special gown for a special person. Mom has a deep love for the past, but also has a fashion sense for the present. Black and white are her favorite colors for clothing and animal prints often find their way into her wardrobe. This gown is definitely THE SUSAN!

Proud Mama Teeny Meets Her Beautiful Son!

We are LOVING all the wonderful testimonials we are getting in! This one is from a wonderful person Christine, AKA "Teeny", who ordered The Isabel Gown for her recent birth. We are so happy Teeny loved her Isabel gown and here is what she had to say about her experience. Thank you SO much Teeny... We are really happy you had a wonderful experience and a beautiful healthy boy! We just love this picture of Jameson... and you even got our logo in there! If you have worn one of our Annie & Isabel gowns, we would love to hear your story.

Teeny's Testimonial

So Precious!

Glowing Mom and Glowing Testimonial

We just received these amazing photographs and testimonial from Gina, who recently gave birth to her second child... a baby girl! What a beautiful family!

"Can I please announce to the world how much I loved my Annie & Isabel gown! I never thought a gown could make such a difference in a hospital stay until I wore the Anita gown during my second child's delivery. Being 5'2'' I had a difficult time being comfortable during my first labor and delivery. Having a gown that was not a one size fits all was a gift! I did not have any extra material to get tangled in and I was covered in all the appropriate places. The design was joyful and I received so many compliments while wearing it. This was extremely helpful during my 25 hours of labor. The Anita pattern and colors worked like a charm when I was in need of a focus point. Looking back, I wish I had two for my hospital stay. I had my mother take it home, wash it, and return it to me as fast as she could. Even after a few washed, the gown was as good as new. Nursing was comfortable and easy with the shoulder snaps. I did not have to worry about my gown while visitors came to meet our newest member of the family. I loved it so much; I will be gifting one to all my mom-to-be friends!"

Thanks Gina! We are so happy that you were able to have a more comfortable and enjoyable experience in your Anita gown! Congratulations on your precious new addition!

Being the Patient...My Personal Experience

As many of your know, I was recently hospitalized with a severe case of pneumonia. Thankfully I am now on the mend and back to enjoying family life at home!! As my sister mentioned in a previous post, this whole experience was very surreal for me. I am used to being the nurse that takes care of the patients so it felt strange to be the patient that so needed the nurses and doctors to care for me....almost uncomfortable.

In my ER with my good friend and nurse, Robin

When starting this business, my sister and I really wanted to develop a designer hospital gown that would be stylish, cover the back, and make people feel better. The majority of our gowns are sold to people having babies or to people buying them as shower gifts for expectant mothers. We absolutely love this because we know our gowns make new mothers feel beautiful and special. In fact, the idea for our company started when my sister was in labor with her second little boy. We thought how great it would be to have had a beautiful hospital gown to wear for such a joyous occasion!!!

Since my sister and I are both nurses, however, we also had a passion to design a gown that would brighten the lives of cancer patients, those with chronic illnesses, and anybody having to spend time in the hospital. Inadequate hospital gowns are patients #1 complaint and, by giving some dignity and control back to patients by allowing them to wear their own gown....one that is stylish and doesn't leave them feeling naked....we felt this would help patients feel better. After my recent experience in the hospital, I now know how true this is!!

During my illness, I made two trips to the Emergency Room. The first day I didn't bring my own hospital gown because I figured the doctors and nurses would just tune me up with some pain medication, fluids, antibiotics and I would go home feeling better. This meant that I had to put on THE hospital gown. It was big, ugly and , yes, pretty much everything hung out the back!!! I didn't care about a whole lot at the time because I felt so sick but a couple of thoughts did cross my mind. What had soiled this gown in the past? I wonder who wore this gown before me? Have you ever thought about the history of a hospital gown? That will be a whole other post :-)

I went home that day, but things didn't get better and I returned to the Emergency Room the next day, knowing I probably wouldn't be going home. I promptly called my sister to have her bring the Anita!! I was still miserable, but it felt so good to have a clean, comfortable, beautiful gown that was my own. It was the one thing I could control during a time when everything else seemed out of control for me. Unfortunately, I spent many more days in the hospital, but one of the positive things that I looked forward to each day was that I had my own new fresh gown to wear. I wore the Anita, the Evelyn, the Isabel and the Elizabeth. For me personally, it was even more meaningful, because I also thought about the women that these hospital gowns were named after....women I knew and loved. I felt connected to them and that gave me strength. When I eventually had the energy to get up to walk the halls, I felt so comfortable knowing I was all covered up. I found that I also felt pretty in the gowns! Looking at the pictures now, I realize that maybe I did not look as good as I thought I did :-) The saying "When you look good you feel better" really is true. See for yourself....

ER visit #1 in THE hospital gown

ER visit #2 in the Anita designer hospital gown. Even though in actuality I was doing worse....doesn't it look like I feel better in that beautiful gown???

I am truly excited about the fact that I now know that we are on target in our mission to help people heal through the beauty of our product. Those words are not just our advertising slogan anymore.....the sentiment was a reality working in my life. So I am happy and hopeful that my experience will be repeated for our clients. I know that our designer hospital gowns can bring smiles, strength, and beauty to anybody who has the unpleasant experience of being in the hospital!!

Me with my little love

Thank you to all of my family and friends who provided such tremendous support through this experience.....especially my husband who was the rock in our family during this time!! To my sister, who was my best nurse and advocate and spent many nights in the hospital with me. To my mom who flew home from her trip from Salt Lake to be with me, and also stay with me in the hospital.....it meant so much to have you there. My love and thanks to my dad, who was there for me the entire time, and to my friends who helped me immensely......you know who you are!!!

Me with my sister and awesome nurse, Selena!!

Me with my mom and best friend :-)

I want to also thank all the health care professionals at Sutter Health who took such great care of me!! You were all so amazing. It made me so proud to work for this organization. I am actually anxious to be able to go back to work next month! Given a choice, I would never have chosen this experience because it truly was scary but, I have to say, I learned a lot from being the patient, and I know it is going to make me an even better nurse when I return to work.

Appel & Frank Babes & Babies Shopping Event

We were so honored and excited to be approached by Karen Appel and Jody Frank to be one of the 50 designers at their Babes and Babies event in San Francisco on July 18th. They put on "seasonal shopping events that bring together hip, fashion-forward shoppers with stylish, emerging designers" (us!!!)

We hope all our bay area and northern cali girls will join us! We think it will be a great time and all the designers will be offering their merchandise at discount prices.

Here is a little description and if you RSVP as our friend, you will have free admission.

Appel & Frank's 'Babes & Babies’ Shopping Event

Modern moms are invited to shop at Appel & Frank's 'Babes & Babies' event because their little ones should look as stylish as they do! The event will feature over 50 designers and companies offering merchandise including baby and toddler clothing, accessories, gear resources and much more. In addition, there will be complimentary gift bags, a raffle, and an on-site photographer offering mini photo shoots. The event will be held on Sunday, July 18th from 9:00am 2:00pm at the JCC in San Francisco (3200 California Street @ Presidio). Tickets are FREE by entering the discount code DESIGNER at www.appelandfrank.com. All tickets will be $5 each at the door.

Who will be there???

The Annie & Isabel blog!!!

Thank you for visiting the Annie & Isabel blog. This is the place where we would like to share news with all of you about our company, the things we are up to and what is to come in the future. We also envision this blog to be a place to tell stories about the people who wear our gowns. These stories may range from the woman struggling with a new diagnosis to the mother experiencing the miracle of the birth of her child. We want people to be inspired by these stories.

As nurses, we feel honored and proud to be in this profession. We are privileged to go to work every day in the hospital and help people who are often so vulnerable. For us, these gowns are a way to make patients feel more dignified, respected and beautiful. It is a small way in which patients can stay in control of their hospital experience and feel unique. We can't wait to get our gowns out into the world to bring a smile to those patients who wear them as well as the doctors and nurses that take care of these patients. We promise that any patient wearing these gowns will be the talk of the hospital staff!!!