So this is your friendly neighborhood Beeler posting instead of Reba, because the aforementioned lady is currently in the intensive care unit at the hospital. Don’t worry, she’s only in ICU because there were no regular rooms left for her in genpop. I’ll get to all those details in a minute. First, our twins have names! Baby A, AKA Lefty, has been given the name Charles Gabriel Dillingham, and baby B, AKA Pancho, is Stephen Ezekiel Dillingham. Colloquially, they’ll be known as Zeke and Gabriel. When they’re bad, which they’re sure to be, based on their genetic history, the full names will surely apply. Those of you up on your bible reading will recognize the two middle names. In Hebrew, Ezekiel means “strength of God” or “God will strengthen” and Gabriel means “God is my strength.” We ultimately decided on these names because our twins will need to be fighters, blessed with God’s divine grace, to make it through the ordeal they are currently faced with. Charles and Stephen are names with familial roots. Charles was the name of my paw Beeler’s daddy and also the name of Rebecca’s grandfather on her dad’s side. My name, Stephen, is inherited from my great-grandfather Dillingham.

So what went down today? Well, we were scheduled for another ultrasound at 9 a.m., with the possibility of an amnioreduction, based on what Dr. Joy found. The doc found that the condition had worsened and indeed an amnioreduction was required. We didn’t realize that with the amnioreduction, 24-48 hours of hospitalization was also in the cards. Rebecca handled the procedure pretty well, after some initial faintness. Basically, the doctor inserted a long needle into her abdomen and through her uterine wall and manually extracted about a pitcher’s worth of amniotic fluid, which vaguely resembled a light domestic lager, with foam and all. How ironic is it that amniotic fluid is mostly urine? The fluid was taken out of little Gabriel’s amniotic sac. Dr. Joy said Gabriel was upset because he was being demoted from a four bedroom apartment to a single room studio. For the most part, Gabriel stayed away from the needle (we were watching the whole thing play out on the ultrasound), but I think one time he actually came over and touched the needle. On the other hand, Zeke was relieved and we were able to get a 4-d ultrasound picture of his face, which we were unable to get before the reduction because he was stuck. Rebecca was then admitted to her room in ICU and about an hour later, she started having contractions. The contractions came on as she has having a phone conversion with her mom and she didn’t physically feel them. The monitoring devices picked up the contractions and the doctors started giving her magnesium sulfate which reverses pre-term labor. The on-call doctor from her practice, Dr. Rivard, assured us that the medicine appeared to be working. Dr. Rivard is a French-Canadian lady who looks a lot like Celine Dion. More irony? Or is it just genetic and environmental influence? Anyway, the message we’re getting from our doctors is that we will be going to Cincinnati, OH before the week is over for some laser surgery. While this type of laser surgery isn’t foolproof, it is the best type of treatment available for twin-twin. And the fact that we have this ball rolling this early is good news. We ask that everyone pray for our twins, little Zeke and Gabriel.

As you can see, Clan Dillingham headed into the studio for some more “fancy” photos. Be sure to check out all the professional pics from May 2008, which include more family photos and plenty of Houston-hamming-it-up shots!