Jessica's stage debut

Here's the video clip of Jessica making her stage debut in the finale of Saturday's concert (or at least the rehearsal on the morning of the concert!)

The total raised from the concert is now up to £610 - a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us for this.

Jessica makes her stage debut

Jessica made her stage debut this afternoon in ‘You’ve Gotta Have Heart’ – our fundraising concert for Friends of PICU.  She came on stage briefly for a poem written by Alan, one of the performers in the concert and then in the finale for ‘When You Believe’ (there can be miracles… when you believe) She has coped so well with all the rehearsing today and with the performance and was just delightful when lots of our audience came up to say hello to her after the show, bless her.  Thank you so much to everyone who braved the snow to come and see the concert and to all our friends and family who performed in the show or helped out behind the scenes – we have raised around £560 for Friends of PICU which is fabulous.

Jessica had her first trip to the hairdressers earlier in the week although wasn’t quite so impressed about having her hair cut!  Nor has she been particularly impressed by the snow over the last couple of days – we took her out in the garden and whilst we did manage to get a couple of photos with a half-smile, she didn’t seem to particularly enjoy the experience!

Another tooth has appeared this week so we are now up to seven teeth.  The last few weeks have seen quite a lot of disturbed nights with the combination of teething, colds and chestiness but hopefully we’ll start getting some good nights soon!  Jessica seems to be much better from a winter bugs point of view at the moment which is great.

Another visit to Wexham Park

We hoped to be able to avoid hospital for a while but Jessica had another trip back to Wexham Park on Tuesday as her sats were on the low side again when the community nurse visited in the morning.  She had been weaned off the salbutamol inhaler a couple of days before but was still a little wheezy and after a couple of puffs of the inhaler, her sats were back up and her chest sounded clear again.  We thought we’d avoided a trip to Wexham Park but the doctors decided that they would like her to come in for a review just to be on the safe side.

Thankfully, after a couple of hours on the children’s assessment unit having her sats monitored and her chest listened to, the doctors were happy that the situation was under control and so we were back home again.  Jessica has been continuing to have the inhaler two or three times a day and the community nurse is due to visit again on Monday to recheck Jessica’s sats.

On the plus side, she is continuing to gain weight beautifully and weighed in at 9070g (19lb 15oz) on Tuesday.   She has become much more confident with standing now and is happily taking little side steps around the lounge holding on to the sofa and any other items of furniture she can pull herself up on!

We have also all been busy rehearsing for our fundraising concert which takes place at Christ Church next week.  Further details of the concert are available here and tickets are available from the church office, with the proceeds being donated to Friends of PICU.  Michael and Louise are both performing in the concert as is Grandma, Great-Auntie Marlene and Jessica’s godfather Bryan, and Grandad is doing the sound so it is a real family affair.

Home for the first time this year!

Jessica had a much better night and her oxygen saturation levels remained stable without the need for oxygen.  By morning, she was much more like her usual self, energetic and chirpy and wanting to get out of the cot and explore so once we got free of all the wires, she had a lovely time discovering all the toys and books in the hospital playroom!  The doctors were happy that her chest sounds were clear and so we were discharged home at lunchtime.  Jessica will finish the course of oral antibiotics over the next few days and will gradually be weaned off the salbutamol inhaler during this time.  Hopefully we won’t need to return to hospital other than for a check-up in the near future!  Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

Seeing the new year in in hospital

After a lovely Christmas and a few days catching up with family (where Jessica enjoyed seeing Nanny, her aunties, uncles and lots of cousins not to mention opening a few more presents!) we were looking forward to seeing in our first New Year at home together but this wasn’t to be!  The three of us were all unwell in the run-up to New Year with a cold/flu-type bug and as Jessica was feverish and listless and wasn’t drinking very much, we took her into to our local hospital to be assessed at the children’s ward (where we have open access).

The doctor diagnosed a viral chest infection which they wanted to keep an eye on in case she develops bronchiolitis and so Jessica was admitted for observation. We also discovered she has a mild ear infection for which they are giving her some oral antibiotics.  Although her oxygen saturations were very good when we first came in (in the high 80s), by the time we got to bedtime they had dropped to 69 and so Jessica was given some oxygen overnight.  She objected very strongly to nasal prongs (ripping them off within seconds of them being taped on) and so we had to try and keep the oxygen mask aimed towards her face (not an easy task with a very fidgety little girl!).  Thankfully by morning her sats were starting to pick up again and she has managed to go most of the day without needing oxygen although her sats still drop when she is deeply asleep and so we are staying in hospital for now until this stabilises.  She has also been a bit wheezy and so has been given salbutamol via an inhaler which will be continued over the next few days, a process which she deeply objects to.

Otherwise though, she has been much happier today and has progressively been more like her usual self, wanting to stand up and play and trying to pull off all the wires.  She has recently starting playing Peek-a-boo where she hides under her blanket and appears (or just covers her eyes) which is very cute and this has helped keep her entertained a little!

  

Hopefully we will all be back home within a couple of days but hope you all have a very happy new year and best wishes for 2013.