And we're back

What do you all think? We've been a little busy as you can see - the blog has had a complete overhaul and I've labelled each post so they can all be found in the following way...

Pregnancy & Diagnosis - is where you will find posts from before Martha was born

Surgery & Recovery - is where all the posts from Martha's 3 operations and her entire recovery from both admissions
Home & Family Life - is where you will find all the posts from when Martha has been home with us, the initial 9 weeks from September and since January until now

Outpatient Appointments - is where you will find posts from when we've taken Martha to London for Cardiac Reviews or to see the Paediatrician in our local Hospital

Reviews & Sponsored Posts - because sometimes we are kindly sent things to try

It's been two weeks since I last posted about Martha Grace, it was the night she slept in her Cot and moved in to the Bedroom she will share with Isabella, though it feels like it was a lot longer than two weeks ago. I think the transition was far more traumatic for me than what it was for Martha Grace; she slept from 9:30pm - 7:30am without a peep. I was reluctant to fall asleep that night just in case she woke and I didn't hear her. I've come to realise since we made the transition that it was the right time for her, and for me too. It's so strange not having a baby fast asleep next to my bed each night - but Isabella loves when we bring Martha to bed at the same time as her which makes it easier for me to deal with.

I've only just realised that I didn't publish a post a couple of week's ago when Martha was weighed. While we were in GOSH she weighed 6.22Kg, by the 12th July which was the following Thursday she had put on 160g which took her to 6.38Kg. She has since been weighed again and was 6.61Kg which is a weight gain of 230g in two weeks. I was also convinced that she had grown in length, so we had her measured on Thursday and was 70cm, up from 68.5cm on the 12th July. She is now following the 2nd centile for her weight and the 50th centile for her length. We've decided now that the Health Visitor won't visit every week, it's too much - especially since the Consultant told us not to think of Martha Grace as a "sick" baby anymore. It's another step in the right direction. I'm not ready to put a stop to the visits all together yet, I like keeping track of her weight and growth...I think if the weight gain slows down I'll pick up on it quite quickly and I'd be able to schedule an appointment for Martha to check things out from a Cardiac Point of View.

So what now for the Heart Mammi blog if Martha Grace is doing well at home?

Well I'm going to keep it going. The main reason I set it up was to be able to document Martha's journey; so she can have something to look back on when she's older, but also for any other family who right now find themselves where we were this time last year - to offer them some hope. I would never have believed in July last year that I would be planning Martha's 1st Birthday Party by now; I wouldn't even have believed it in December when she went in for her 3rd Open Heart Surgery. It's amazing what she has survived. But I don't want to just document the medical side of things - I want to document our family life and show it is possible to have a great day down at the beach even with a Baby who has a pacemaker (bad example I know, but you catch my drift).

So here are some pics of our day down on Pwllheli Beach a couple of weeks ago.

Thank you all for your support so far and I hope you all like what we've done with the blog.

GM
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