59 Days

The first time I was able to hold my little one was two days after she was born, my doctor had given me a pass to leave my hospital and have Marco drive me over to the NICU so I could spend a couple of hours with her. I can remember walking into the NICU and seeing all of these incubators and signs with each babies name. I looked around searching for my Annalise but I couldn't find her. I saw this tiny little baby and thought to my self wow she is so tiny and continued searching because I remembered my Annalise being bigger but to my surprise Marco lead me straight to this little baby... she was MY Annalise. I broke down in tears at the sight of all of the machines and seeing just how small she was...
1 lb 15 oz.

Proud Daddy

Proud Mommy

Annalise spent 59 days in the NICU and she had her good days and bad but one thing she was/is is a fighter. There were several times that she pulled out her feeding tube because she didn't like it and when she was hungry she would let you know as her nurse Julie knows oh so well. As days went by we saw her personality come through and watched in amazement how she went from a feeding tube to a Haberman bottle to a Dr. Brown's bottle and with each progression she gained weight which meant we would be able to take her home someday soon

I think the hardest part for us was leaving each day and wondering if today she would be a good night or a not so good night. There were a couple of times were she lost some weight or she didn't eat as much and she even had some nights were she couldn't hold her temperature in the open crib which meant she had to go back into the incubator... this meant more days in the NICU. We would call each morning and night to check-in and see how she was doing but each morning I couldn't wait to get up and be with her. There were days were I spent all day with her and I would just talk to her and hold her but like a good man that Marco is he would remind me that I needed rest and to eat because if I got sick then I wouldn't be able to see her, so off I would go to eat lunch and rest but there wasn't a day that went by that I wasn't by her side loving her and praying that we would soon bring home a healthy baby.

While Annalise was in the NICU Mom (Marco's) flew in from Philadelphia to be with us and take care of us. Every morning Marco would drive us to the hospital and we would spend hours taking turns with Annalise, the NICU only allowed two people per child so Marco and Mom would switch. The day Mom flew in we surprised her and took her straight to the NICU to see Annalise I can remember her face when she saw how tiny Annalise was and how thankful she was for our little miracle baby. Mom would talk to Annalise and pray over her each day and I think all of our love really helped her to stay strong and fight.

My little girl truly gave it all she had and managed to leave the NICU weighing 4 lbs and 11.8 oz. on December 29, 2010. She had such amazing doctors and two primary nurses Julie and Erin and many more that took such great care of her and I can't stop singing their praises. Thank you all for everything that you did for our daughter and the great care that you gave her.

December 29, 2010

I have to say a special thank you to Marco because I know it was very hard for him to see me cry and see his little girl in the NICU but through out all of this he was my rock. He held me up and reminded me that Annalise would be okay and that we just had to love her and be by her side because she had Dad's fighting spirit and lots of people were praying for her. I can't thank him enough for being my strength and being such an amazing man.