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.

Tuesday, 21 February 2012

Still focusing on feeding

Feeding and weight gain are still very much the focus with Jessica at the moment. She is gaining weight slowly – now up to 5040g (11lb 2oz) so not quite back to where she was before her cardiac catheter procedure but she is getting there. Her weight is back on the 0.4th centile line on the weight charts and we are hoping that she keeps following this curve and doesn’t drop below it. She is still mostly breastfeeding with some Infatrini top-ups.

Otherwise, Jessica is doing very well and continues to be a very smiley, happy baby. She is managing to sit with support for longer periods of time and keeps teasing us with nearly rolling on to her side before going back to lying on her back on the activity mat and kicking her legs in the air. She is also becoming much more interested in all the different toys that she has to play with.

The donations received as a result of Grandma’s birthday party are now up to £675 which is absolutely amazing – thank you so much to everyone who has very generously donated to Little Hearts Matter.

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2 comments:

  1. Sarah Nendick22 February 2012 at 11:30

    She's beautiful Louise! This brought back memories - Monty had that activity mat - I seem to remember laying under it a lot with him....

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  2. Louise28 February 2012 at 22:50

    Thank you. The activity mat is great - she loves it! Hope all is well with you and the family xx

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