Jessica at 7 weeks

After spending last week out and about, visiting family and going to weddings, it was time for a quieter week at home with Jessica although we have still had lots of visitors. Auntie Maxine and cousin Kieran came to stay for a couple of days and cousins Maria, Chris, Steven and Ryan also came for a visit.

Jessica is continuing to do well and have regular checks with the community nurse. She has had her newborn hearing test and her six week check, both of which were fine, and is gaining weight well – now up to 3140g (6lb 14.5oz). Jessica is following the 0.4th centile line so seems to be taking after Louise size-wise rather than Michael! She is also starting to be more aware of things around her – this week she has been really looking at the toys hanging above her pram when she is in it and starting to smile in response to things which is just magical.

We are still waiting for the date of the catheter procedure to be confirmed although anticipate that this will be happening sometime in the next couple of weeks. Jessica has her next heart scan at Oxford in a week’s time and hopefully this will continue to show that she is doing well.

Jessica at 6 weeks

It’s been a busy week for Jessica – we have been out and about a little more and a few more family members and friends have been meeting her for the first time.

We had a family wedding to attend last Friday where some more members of Michael’s extended family were able to meet Jessica – among them cousins Meryl, Angela, Chris, Katherine, David, Emily and Sam. Jessica’s arrival at the wedding was a little delayed due to having to make an unexpected trip back to the John Radcliffe as the wound from her surgery was looking a little inflamed and we were concerned that it was getting infected. The doctors advised that we just observe it for a few days and return if it worsened but thankfully it seems to be getting better now.

At the weekend, we had some friends come and visit so Sarah, Mark, Lynsey, Sam B and Sam P all got to meet Jessica for the first time.

Wednesday was both granddads’ birthday so we visited Grandad George in the morning to wish him a happy birthday and had a day of visiting Louise’s family and laying flowers in the churchyard in memory of Grandad Crouch. Jessica got to meet lots of cousins for the first time – Lee, Craig, Warren, Tabatha, Jamie, Jason, Lauren, Kieran, Wayne, Holly, Jake, Keely, Aaron, Brandon, Tiarna, Uncle Matt, Uncle Mick, Auntie Sam and the newest cousin Scarlett-Rose who is just twelve days older than Jessica. It was lovely to be able to spend a day with lots of family members.

We have also spoken to our minister at church to arrange a thanksgiving service on 27^th November to welcome Jessica into the church as she has already been baptised.

Jessica had another check-up and echocardiogram in Oxford today – she has gained another 100g and is now 2980g (6lb 8oz). She is continuing to do well with regards to her heart function and oxygen saturation levels. We are still waiting for the date of the next catheter procedure to be confirmed but are expecting this to be in early November.

First week at home

Jessica is now five weeks old and has been home for over a week! It has been wonderful to all be together as a family and to be able to go out and about with her. She seems to be doing well and is continuing to gain weight - up to 2860g (6lb 4.5oz) at the last weigh-in.

We are now having regular check-ups with the health visitor and also the community nurse who comes to check Jessica’s oxygen saturation levels and weight once a week. We are also going back to John Radcliffe every couple of weeks for heart scans. The latest heart scan shows that there is still good blood flow through the stent in her ductus arteriosus and her oxygen saturation levels are remaining stable.

It has been lovely to be able to take Jessica out and about and to catch up with friends. It was particularly good to be able to take her to church last Sunday and so she could meet all our friends there who have been praying for her. Louise also took her along to the Healing Rooms in Perivale as they were also praying for Jessica during Louise’s pregnancy and it was wonderful to be able to bring Jessica and thank God there for our little miracle. We also popped in to a Pastiche rehearsal so that all our friends there could meet Jessica.

We have had a few visitors since we have been home – Nanny and Auntie Twinny were finally able to visit again having missed out over the last couple of weeks due to being unwell and cousins Ebony and Erin finally got to meet Jessica. Michael’s cousin Clare also visited with her twin daughters Seren and Siân and met Jessica for the first time. We also have had visits from Tracy, Bryan and Nicki and Great-Auntie Marlene, not to mention Grandma and Grandad who have also been enjoying being able to see more of Jessica now that we are home.

It is looking like Jessica will be having the catheter procedure to check the pressures in her lungs in early November. At the moment, we are just taking each day as it comes and enjoying every moment of being able to have her home with us – what a huge blessing it has been to be able to be home together as a family.

As always, thank you to everyone for your continued support on this journey – we will continue to keep you posted with regards to Jessica’s progress.

Days 25-29 - Heading home

By Friday, Jessica was doing so well that we were able to take her out in the pram and go for walks around the hospital. It was wonderful to finally be able to take her out of the ward and go and sit in the hospital cafe with her.

Jessica was weighed on Friday and seemed to have lost another 15g, bringing her weight back to 2525g (5lb 9oz) but as she had gained so much earlier in the week, the team didn’t seem too concerned by this. She was continuing to feed well and by Monday had passed her birth weight for the first time, gaining another 130g to take her weight to 2655g (5lb 13oz).

Great-Uncle Ken and Great-Auntie Kathy came to visit over the weekend to meet Jessica for the first time and we also had visits on Monday from Tany and cousins Timmy and Karen.

Jessica had an echocardiogram on Monday afternoon which showed that there was still good blood flow through the stent and as she was doing so well and gaining weight, Dr Archer agreed that we could finally take her home.

It was so amazing to finally be able to go home with Jessica this afternoon after four weeks in hospital. There have been times on this journey that we could scarcely have dared hope that this would ever be possible and so to be finally home with our baby girl is the most wonderful feeling ever. We are finally together as a family and getting a taste of ‘normal’ family life. Thank you so much to everyone for your thoughts and prayers which have helped to get us to this point – we have been so very, very blessed and the support we have received on this journey has been truly overwhelming.

Of course, there are still more stages to get through on this journey, but we thank God that we have got this far and pray that Jessica’s journey will continue and she will continue to grow and thrive. We will be having regular visits at home by the community nurse and health visitor who will be monitoring Jessica’s weight and oxygen saturations and will also be going back to Oxford for regular check-ups.

Jessica is due to have another catheter procedure to check the pressures in her lungs at some point in the next few weeks and this will determine whether the next operation is an option. We will keep praying that she will be able to have the next operation to help her survive and will keep you updated with how she progresses over the coming weeks.