WhiteBoard News for January 09, 1995

San Diego, California:

Want a cheeky calendar?

The 1995 San Diego Zoo calendar features hippo hinds,
rhino rumps and peacock posteriors, as well as other
rear views of animals.

Yes, we know, but the calendar, called "Animal Buns,"
is for a good cause: to raise money for international
conservation projects.
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Baltimore, Massachusetts:

Researchers hope an HIV-infected woman who has been
healthy for 13 years can help them figure out how the
body fights the AIDS virus.

In a rare case, the woman's body appears to have
suppressed the virus, said Dr. David Schwartz, who
leads the research at Johns Hopkins University.
Doctors have tried 30 times over six years to replicate
the virus cultures taken from her body in a test tube,
Schwartz said.  They have not succeeded.  That could
indicate she has powerful internal defenses, or that
her virus is defective researchers say.
==========

Dallas, Texas:

It's enough to send Paul Anka back to that big schlock
song sheet in the sky: "(You're)Having My
Baby...Again."

New tune or no tune, All Donna Dudley knows is that in
the next few years she will probably have a lot of
explaining to do when her twin kids inquire about their
birthdays.

Namely, why were they born seven days apart -- in
different years?

Daniel Ray Dudley was born on December 27, 1994.  His
twin sister, Nicole Rae, came into the world January 3,
1995.  They join a brother of 15 months.

The doctors at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas say that
though it's not entirely rare to have twins delivered
at slightly different times, it is extremely unusual to
have them born seven days apart -- and from one year to
another.

After Daniel was born about 14 weeks early -- at 1
pound, 14 ounces -- the doctors' best advice was for
the parents to wait it out in the hospital, until next
year.

"It was very strange," remembered Dudley.  "I was
scared when it happened, but I knew I had to keep my
cool -- for seven days."

She was buoyed by the doctors saying her daughter stood
a better chance of being born healthy with each passing
day.

"That's what kept me from going completely ballistic,"
she said.  "That's what kept me from going completely
out of my mind.  If it was going to do her any good, I
would have stayed up there for three months."

Later on Tuesday afternoon, while her husband Jubal was
racing to the hospital, Donna delivered her daughter at
2 pounds, 6 ounces.

Now, after the exciting deliveries, the Dudley's are
concerning themselves with more mundane things.

"I was watching TV and saw a commercial about kids
having cars," she said.  "We've got three kids in three
consecutive years.  That'll be a problem later on."

Until then, Dudley and her husband have reached one
firm conclusion after going three-for-three with babies
born in 1993, 1994 and 1995:  "We have no plans to have
any more," Donna Dudley said.
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