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.

Monday, 24 February 2014

Weighty worries



We had our monthly visit from the community nurse today and Jessica has lost a little weight and is back down to 11.64kg (25lb 9.5oz).  Like most toddlers, she goes through phases of being a picky eater and other times she will eat really well.  Weight-gain wise it often feels like she takes three steps forward and then two back and it is easy to start worrying about her weight when she doesn’t seem to be gaining very much or losing weight but looking back to just before her second birthday, she has gained 780g overall and is just about managing to stay on or above the 25th centile.  The community nurse is not particularly concerned about her weight – it is just us as parents who tend to worry about these things!  Sats-wise though she is staying fairly stable – today her sats were 77-81 which is fairly standard for Jessica.


One of the reasons for her weight loss may be because she has been teething recently but the last two molars have now appeared and Jessica now has her full set of milk teeth.  We had a few unsettled nights as a result of teething but this is now much better.


Jessica has been enjoying spending lots of time with family over the last week – Auntie Fizz and cousins Ebony and Erin came to stay last week and we had trips to the Museum of Childhood and did some baking (Jessica particularly enjoyed spooning cake mix into paper cases and then eating it before it could go in the oven!) and some crafts (making a birthday card for Grandma).  Godmummy Gillian also came to stay as it was Sophie’s christening yesterday and Jessica enjoyed seeing lots of family and all her godparents there.



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