Anette and Baby Liam Feldman Fund

I am Jaimie, president of the MOMS (Moms Offering Moms support) club of San Diego-Mira Mesa.

Anette is a long time member of our club and she served as our Vice President last year. She was in charge of our service project; fundraising and she started the "kids give back program". She organized donations from our kids for the food bank, a gift basket to the local fire fighters, clean up the park dates and a recycling turn in. She helped raise more than a thousand dollars for the shoe box project for San Diego youth services last Christmas season, which she got our children involved with choosing and putting their items in the boxes.  Then she had the kids personally donate the boxes to the location.

After trying for quite some time to conceive, Anette and Al were excited to be expecting a baby brother for big sister Mila.  Anette and Al wanted to take Mila on a special trip before they became a family of four.  Two days into their trip in Hawaii, Anette's water broke and baby was on the way. 

At 23 weeks and 1 day Anette delivered baby Liam, weighing 1 lb. 5.6 oz. and measuring 11.42 inches in length, via emergency C section.  Such an early delivery date poses many problems for Liam but being on the island of Oahu poses many more problems for the Feldman family.  Due to the complications of Liam's early delivery he will need to stay in the NICU until at least March 2016.  By the way, Liam’s name came about when big sister Mila realized the name “Liam” contained the same letters as hers.  While this was not seriously considered at first, the suddenness of Liam’s birth logically dictated that his name would be Liam.

Anette’s mom and dad were able to drop everything and fly to Hawaii and be with Anette, Liam, Al and Mila when Liam was just two days old, and Liam’s grandma Phyllis arrived a few days later.  After a week, Al had to return home for work and wanting to keep things as normal as possible for Mila because she needed to return to school, Anette’s mom flew home with them to care for Mila during the coming weeks.  Anette’s dad remains on the island to lend comfort and support to Anette and Liam so they don’t have to handle the stresses and worries alone.

Anette had to find housing and transportation while learning to navigate a strange land where everything is unfamiliar.  Planning to only stay a week, Anette was not prepared to stay 5 months. She packed only maternity clothes and a week worth of necessities.  Expenses are mounting and insurance is not helping with everything that’s needed such as normal daily living expenses.  At the beginning of the year, all of the deductibles will reset, causing another heap of financial burden.

Anette and her dad were able to check into the Ronald McDonald house which is a great resource and blessing at a cost of $20 a day.  While they obviously can't provide everything needed for comfort during an extended stay, the Ronald McDonald House Charities staff and volunteers have been a constant source of shelter, food, amenities and moral support.

Unfortunately, all of this happened right at the beginning of the holiday season, so their family will be separated.  Tickets for Al and Mila to visit during the Christmas break will be another expense but one that will be desperately needed.  Transportation to and from the hospital will add up and renting a car is expensive. It would be ideal if Anette could buy a very cheap car for the 5 months she needs to go to and from the NICU.

While Mila's grandma Debbie is taking care of her granddaughter and son-n-law at this time of need, of course Mila misses her mommy; and, Al is bearing the brunt of responsibility to provide for his family as well as the stress of not being with his wife and son.  Being alone on a strange island without friends and only minimal family for support is hard enough to imagine. Having a child fighting for his life in a NICU is worse. Adding all of the financial constraints on top of everything makes it almost unbearable. 

Anette needs some relief as soon as possible.  We, as her friends would be so thankful to hear that she has some help, and I know Anette would be eternally grateful for your support.  This is a life changing experience for the Feldman family and an unfortunate circumstance that no one saw coming; although, their story does have a silver lining – Baby Liam!