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.

Saturday, 24 December 2011

Up on Ocean Ward

Jessica had another stable night on PICU and when we arrived to see her in the morning, we were very happy to see a dot next to her name on the board indicating that she was going to be transferred up to the ward. We were transferred up to Ocean Ward midway through the afternoon and Tany and Phil came to visit as we arrived on the ward.

Jessica has now had the ECG leads removed and is back on oxygen this evening as her saturation levels have been dropping a little bit as she is a little chesty but hopefully the oxygen will not be needed for very long. She is still having Monogen through her feeding tube – we tried to give her it via a bottle earlier in the evening but she wasn’t too keen – whether it was due to the taste or just that she was unsettled due to her new environment we weren’t sure.

Jessica has continued to be unsettled this evening and needing lots of cuddles to try and get her to sleep ready for Santa to visit. Her Christmas stocking is hanging at the end of her cot ready for Santa to fill and we are looking forward to celebrating our first Christmas with our little miracle.

Merry Christmas to you all and thank you to everyone who has been following Jessica's journey over the past year and supporting and praying for us.

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4 comments:

  1. Brian Wiseman25 December 2011 at 00:51

    Give Jessica a Christmas Day hug from me please :-)

    Brian x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stephanie, Michael, Zoe and Aileen25 December 2011 at 00:57

    Wishing you all a very special Christmas. Love and prayers xxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jeanine Ringer25 December 2011 at 02:18

    Happy Christmas to all three of you!!!
    Love,
    Jeanine and Matt

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sally Eyre25 December 2011 at 05:05

    Merry Christmas indeed. Love from NZ

    ReplyDelete

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