Our beautiful daughter Jessica was born in September 2011 with a severe heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. This was diagnosed at her 20 week scan and we were initially told that she was unlikely to be suitable for surgery. However, a pioneering in-utero operation at 28 weeks to enlarge a hole in her atrial septum was carried out and she was able to make it to term and get through her first open-heart surgery at just eight hours old. Jessica underwent five more surgeries during her life. Her final surgery - the Fontan procedure - took place in December 2017. She initially made a good recovery but sadly passed away suddenly on 14th April 2018 at the age of 6. This is the story of a little girl whose half a heart overflowed with love. She was, and will forever be, our little miracle and brought joy to all who knew her.

Sunday, 25 December 2011

Jessica's first Christmas

We have had a lovely first Christmas with Jessica on Ocean Ward and Jessica has been thoroughly spoilt by everyone! We left a stocking at the end of the cot ready for Santa last night but in the morning discovered that Santa had also left an extra stocking next to Jessica’s cot with a toy for Jessica and a little gift for Mummy and Daddy too! Santa also paid a visit in person to the ward in the morning and delivered some more presents.

We went to the Christmas service in the hospital in the morning and then Grandma and Grandad visited in the afternoon bringing more presents and our Christmas dinner with them. Jessica had some cuddles with Grandma and Grandad and then settled down for an afternoon nap whilst we went off and had some Christmas lunch and opened some presents (thanks to some lovely friends of ours who let us use their house whilst they were away so we didn’t have to brave the hospital canteen or fight for space in the ward kitchen!)

In the evening, Jessica woke up and we opened her presents – she had lots of lovely things – lots of toys, pretty clothes and some keepsakes for her nursery (when we get around to finishing it!).

As far as her recovery goes, Jessica has had a good day. She was weighed in the morning and now weighs 4170g (9lb 3oz) – 90g more than when she was admitted nearly two weeks ago. We had expected her to lose weight so were pleased until we realised that the weight gain may also be due to fluid retention. She had an echo in the afternoon which was fine and there wasn’t any excess fluid showing on this so we are hoping that this is a proper weight gain!

We also were treated to some beautiful smiles from our little girl in the morning – the first real smiles since her operation which was the most wonderful Christmas present. Overall, we have had a lovely day – what a huge blessing it is to be able to spend our first Christmas with our beautiful and brave little girl. We have so much to thank God for – there have been many times on this journey when we barely dared to hope that we would get this far and even though our first Christmas with our little miracle has been spent in hospital, just being able to celebrate Christmas with Jessica here and doing well means that it truly has been the best Christmas ever.

Hope you have all had a lovely Christmas too.

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1 comment:

  1. Jean George26 December 2011 at 08:01

    She made our Christmas so extra special. Thank you Louise and Michael for letting us share it with you.Grandma and grandad xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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