Although having been pregnant five times, the daughter she and her husband were expecting would be their second living child.
Plus, her pregnancy was anything but smooth, as Annette contracted COVID-19 as her delivery date drew near and required an emergency Cesarean section and blood transfusion following Brooklyn’s arrival.
“After her arrival, there was some concern about her gaining weight,” wrote Annette, despite Brooklyn having been a “whopping eight pounds, which is the largest baby in my immediate family.”
Brooklyn dropped a little more than a pound after delivery, but Annette wasn’t worried because her daughter’s brother had done the same. But when Brooklyn was just a few weeks old, Annette became alarmed because her weight wasn’t increasing as quickly as she and her doctors thought it should.
So she turned to Ascension Via Christi pediatricians, who helped her set up a feeding schedule.
“It was a demanding schedule, but it was worth it because she gained weight quickly and put her back to where our doctor would like to see her developmentally,” she wrote in a recent Facebook post.
She also worked with the lactation team at the Ascension Via Christi Breastfeeding Clinic, located at Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph along with the NewLife Center, who helped her adjust to the feeding schedule and gave her tips and hands-on teaching for successful and consistent feeding.
“I’ve met with them virtually, in e-mails and in person, where they guided me on some of the best practices with getting her where she is today,” she wrote in her post.
“They were also helpful when I got a case of hives,” she wrote, which she says were likely brought on by stress following her difficult delivery. While she wanted the hives to go away, she didn’t want to do anything that would hurt her milk supply. With their help, the hives were gone within a few days without any disruption to feeding her daughter.
“When folks say it takes a village to raise a child, I could not agree more,” she wrote.
“We’ve had a team of doctors who’ve helped get us beyond those pregnancy losses and to this healthy little girl. Again, thanks to them! The support continues in the doctors’ offices and even here online. Thank you all for being so kind. It's meant more than you know.”