pictures

a couple pictures of our cutie:

all about eve - wednesday

when we arrived at the hospital wednesday morning at about 3am, julie was still at only 2 centimeters, but was now 100% effaced. because the sleeping pill didn't work, they gave her some stronger pain medicine, and checked us into a room (bed #14 at U of M).

the room was HUGE... much bigger than we were expecting, with a very large bathtub. a stark contrast to the small triage rooms where we had been the previous hours! comfortable lighting, windows to the outside, plenty of chairs... not bad. unfortunately it didn't include a cot or mattress for me, so i had to try sleeping in a reclining chair.

the pain meds helped julie get some sleep between contractions. i, however, didn't sleep at all... maybe if i were 5'6" instead of 6'6" i could have managed a few hours, but the darn thing just didn't go back far enough for me to spread out. so this was night #2 without any sleep at all.

in the morning julie got checked out again, and was up to about 4 centimeters, so things were coming along, but very slowly. for the rest of the morning and early afternoon we worked on various positions to help with the labor. by the afternoon she was up to about 6 centimeters, but was really tired and in a lot more back pain.

the exhaustion and pain was just too much (at this point it's been over 36 hours), so we opted for an epidural. this was a blessing from heaven! julie could still feel the contractions, but the pain was largely eliminated.

in order to speed things up, they broke julie's water early that evening. that did the trick... pretty soon she was up to 8 and 9 centimeters, and by about 10pm she was ready to start pushing.

(more later)

the week eve came to town - the first 24 hours

i'm going to try to write down some of what i remember from the last week, from the time julie went into labor. sleep has been little and far between, so this won't likely be the most coherent or eloquent recollection, but who cares about that anyway?

THE FIRST 24 HOURS

the contractions began at about 2am on Tuesday morning, August 16. julie woke me up saying that she thought they were the real thing. i was really tired, and not expecting our baby to arrive until later that week, so i tried to convince us both that they would probably go away.

they kept coming, about every 9 minutes. i hadn't gotten to bed until about 1am that night, and was already sleep deprived... i thought "this is not a good time"... i was actually hoping that it wasn't *real* labor, but simply the early stuff.

by morning the contractions were speeding up a bit, maybe every 6-7 minutes. we called our nurse-midwife. she told us to just hang in there until the contractions were about every 2-3 minutes. wow! in the movies you just drive your wife to the hospital with that first contraction--what a load of bunk!

for the rest of the morning they kept coming about every 5 minutes or so. we decided to go to the mall, walk around... hopefully speed things up. whenever julie would walk, the contractions would speed up. at the mall they started coming every 3-4 minutes during walking time, so we decided to leave and get ready to go to the hospital.

once julie sat back down, they slowed to every 7-8 minutes or so. how confusing!! we called the midwife again. she told us to just keep laboring at home, and wait until the contractions were every 2-3 minutes. OR, we could come in that evening around 8 so that they could give julie something to help her sleep.

by about 8 the contractions were still only every 5 minutes or so, but we were exhausted... we headed to the hospital. once there, we waited around for an hour while the more obviously laboring women were admitted first. once we got in, julie was checked... only 2 centimeters and 60% effaced! argh... they gave julie something to help with sleep, and we got out of there around 11pm.

at about 2am wednesday morning, julie was in some really serious pain... the contractions were really strong now, and the pain was mostly in her lower back. i was out of my mind trying to help her... not having slept since sunday night. i packed her up and headed back to the hospital.

[more to come]

baby Bromley

introducing...

Eve Chilimigras Bromley

born Wednesday, August 17 at 11:36pm
9 pounds 2 ounces, 20 1/2 inches



we had quite an eventful week, with a 46 hour labor, and a couple of scary days due to Eve's hyperbilirubinemia (caused by ABO incompatibility of the blood types). she's fine now... i'll say more later when i can gather myself and reflect. we just had an appointment with the pediatrician this morning, and she's doing wonderfully... she's 95% for weight and 97% for height!

the pool of siloam

it appears that they've discovered the pool of siloam in jerusalem! i love it when archaeology confirms the biblical story.

check out this link to the LA Times article:

Biblical Pool Uncovered in Jerusalem


As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. (John 9:1-7)

a poem for my little girl

a little girl,
yet descended,
a new soul
newly founded.

eyes closed
to my world,
still she dreams,
thoughts impearled.

what dreams
can yet unlived
life design,
or hope uplift?

and how can i,
being passing by,
hold her gaze,
sight's first supply?

the giver's choice,
can i demur?
no, i can but take
and to god offer

Surveys - Fun

here are a couple of online surveys you can take... i'd be interested in how you scored, and what category that puts you in.

Spiritual Type Survey

i scored an 82, so i'm a 'true believer'! woohoo! however, i'm 8 points shy of 'candidate for clergy'... darn.

What Kind of Christian Are You?

i scored 342. i'm not even going to tell you what that makes me, according to them!!!


[oh, this is neat... sam's club called for 'copyright release' on a couple of 'studio pictures' that i uploaded there for printing. the funny thing is, they were a couple pregnancy pictures i took of julie, that i did some minor photoshopping on. guess i'll have to open a studio!]

online discussions

ugh... i'm thoroughly disappointed in myself. i should have known better than to engage in an online 'debate' on an atheist website with people using pseudonymns. not suprisingly, the 'debate' quickly degenerates into aspersions and insults. i can't say i'm totally innocent on that count either, as i'm somtimes... eh... sarcastic. this doesn't surprise anyone who knows me. anyhow, the experience was fun for a while, and they did give me some interesting things to think about. the also gave me some interesting feedback on my master's thesis (which they had access to because i shared my 'don's corner' with them). of course, they all preferred to remain anonymous, so it wasn't really a fair fight.

it reminded me a lot of when i used to get into those online discussions in college, but i was coming at them from a completely different angle.

ta ta,

don