Julia Brown’s Eulogy
BOB
We would like to take a moment to thank all of you for being here today to support us and celebrate our daughter’s life. Today would have been Julia’s 3rd month birthday. You have showed your love to us in many tangible ways. Thank you.
VAL
Our time with Julia was way too brief. Only 82 days. But there are things about her that made her who she was. She was beautiful. She had bright red hair (we couldn’t believe God gave us another red head!), she had porcelain skin, and steel blue eyes. She was also full of life and personality. Most of you never got to meet her. So we want to give you an opportunity to meet her and get to know her through our eyes.
She was a fighter. At 15 weeks pregnant, she first made her presence known to me. She didn’t stop wiggling and kicking me until she was evicted at 37weeks.
She continued to make her presence known even more after birth! Several times when it was thought that Julia might not even make it through the night, she would start to improve.
BOB
One of the ways Julia made herself known was her strong cry!
Her cry was one of her most recognizable talents. She was small but her cry was mighty! After Val’s last routine ultrasound at Stanford, it was decided by some doctors to admit her that very afternoon because they thought that Julia was measuring small at only 4 lbs 12 oz. The next day, when Julia was evicted by c-section, it was her strong cry that gave us a sense of relief that she was indeed okay. To everyone’s surprise, she ended up weighing 6 lbs 7 oz! The nurses and doctors at Stanford also came to know Julia by her strong cry. During times when Julia was particularly unhappy and letting everyone know about it, nurses and doctors would poke their heads in Julia’s room and tell us that they could hear her all the way at the other end of the CVICU. We want you to be able to hear it, too. Here’s a video clip. (Show video)
VAL
Julia had such an expressive face. It was obvious she had plenty of personality from the day she was born. One talent I noticed she had from early on was the ability to raise one eyebrow, and it seemed she could do this with either one. I found this most impressive since neither Bob nor I can raise one eyebrow. I was sad that I never was able to catch this on film. She was just too quick. Another quirky habit of Julia’s was only opening one eye when she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be awake or not.
And it wasn’t always the same eye. I started calling her the “one eyed wonder” from one or two weeks of age.
However, it was the way Julia looked people right in the eyes that touched my heart the most. She started gazing at faces and looking into our eyes at around 4 weeks old. As the days and weeks past, she became even more expressive and more communicative with her eyes.
If anyone were speaking to her, she would gaze right back at them as if she were responding to what they were saying. Bob, the grandmothers, and even the nurses and doctors commented about Julia’s expressive eyes.
BOB
Mattie loved her sister deeply from the moment she found out Val was pregnant.
She was so excited to become a big sister. She came up with many names for her sister such as Alice (the name of Angelina Ballerina’s best friend,) or even better, Candy Cane Trick or Treat (Candy Cane being the first name and Trick or Treat being the middle name.) The birth of Julia brought out a soft and tender side of Mattie that we don’t always get to see. Here is a video of Mattie meeting her sister for the first time. (Show video clip)
Even through the love and sweetness, there was still some sibling rivalry.
Here is a photo of Mattie holding her little sister and smiling sweetly at the camera.
Notice what Julia is doing. Yes, that is Julia sticking her tongue out at her big sister. But it wasn’t always one way.
Here is Mattie, giving her sister a bit too much love, patting her sister on the head a little too hard.
VAL
Julia was in the hospital a total of 8 weeks of her 11 weeks of life. Her longest stay at home was the 3 weeks after she was discharged from the hospital the first time. It was a rough transition.
Julia struggled to eat and we had to feed over half her feedings by the tube in her nose- her NG tube. Mattie liked to imitate her little sister and creatively came up with a nose tube of her own.
As we transitioned to being at home with Julia, feeding her required us to set the alarm and stick to a strict round- the-clock feeding schedule. We were quite exhausted. Allow us to demonstrate by showing you one of my favorite video clips involving Bob, Julia, Mattie, and our cat. (Show video, go to black)
VAL
Despite all the hardship, Julia brought so much joy to our lives. We hope you now have an even better understanding of what a beautiful and delightful little girl she was. Thank you so much.
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