Growing Your Baby - Parenthood from Pregnancy to Pre-school » Conjoined Twins

UPDATE: Indonesian Twins Born In Single Body With 2 Heads

Lisa — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:55:40 +0000

Sad news… The set of conjoined twins with two heads, but just a single body have died in Indonesia five days after their birth.

Doctors said the boys died within minutes of each other.

The twins had their own hearts, but shared all of their other vital organs, making it medically impossible to separate them.The rare birth had drawn crowds of curious Indonesians to the hospital.

The boys were delivered in the Riau province via Caesarean section Thursday, CNN reported. They were taken to another hospital, where they were in critical condition over the weekend.

Their combined weight was just 7 pounds at birth.

A medical team working on the twins had said their circulation and lungs were in bad shape, and the hospital director said it was medically impossible to separate them.

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*PHOTO IS A SCREEN CAP TAKEN JUST AFTER THE BABIES WERE BORN*

Indonesian Twins Born In Single Body With 2 Heads

Lisa — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 03:57:19 +0000

An Indonesian couple has welcomed a baby who was born with two heads on a single, undivided body.

Dr Rasul Alim M, director of the Puri Husada Hospital, said the baby is actually a Conjoined twin who can not be separated medically.

The newborn, who had yet to be given a name, is in good health.

He has two heads, a body with two arms, two legs, one pair of kidneys, one pair of lungs, one anus but two hearts.

Measuring 43 cm in length, the amazing baby weighed in at 3,200 grams(just over 7lbs) moments after birth.

“This is the very first Conjoined twin birth that has ever happened in Indragiri Hilir district,” Dr. Alim said about the baby born to parents Badrun, 33 and Nurhayati, 23.

On Friday, the hospital was packed with local people who had heard about the birth of the “strange” baby and wanted to see it.

Alim said the only organic abnormality in the baby was that its left heart was smaller than its right one.

“The baby is actually a Siamese twin with an abnormality and in medical terms impossible to separate, but we will take care of him in the best way we can,” he said.

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Doctors Separate Abandoned Conjoined Twins

Lisa — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 20:00:24 +0000

A pair of conjoined twins that were found abandoned under a bush with their date of birth written on a slip of paper, have been successfully separated.

The babies underwent a four-hour operation to be separated on March 10th. Their individual weights have risen to 4lbs 6oz and 4lbs 1oz respectively, which is considerably more than the 6lbs they weighed together when they were found.

The twins, who had merged blood vessels, liver and chest bones, are also the youngest pair of conjoined twins who had been successfully separated in the Chinese city.

Hospital staff believes that concern over heavy medical expenses caused their parents to abandon them outside the hospital just eight days after they were born.

They held a press conference on Wednesday and urged the parents of the twins to come forward.

Even though the fees to operate on the babies has now exceeded 100,000 yuan ($22,000), the hospital says that the parents will not have to pay.

Future operations will also be waived They include heart surgery for both and cleft palate surgery for one.

Because the babies were so small, the hospital paid extra for their surgeries.

Hospital officials said that the surgeons practised operating on rabbits at least three times before they dared to perform the surgery and the operation was divided into two parts.

The boys were separated at their abdomen and liver before their chest bones.

The operation was risky because the babies had no more than 240cc of blood in total, and a blood loss of 10 per cent or just 24cc, could have placed their lives in danger.

The good news is that the surgery was a resounding success and the babies are currently healthy and recovering well.

I personally hope these parents don’t come back for them. They need parents that are going to love them regardless of their condition.

I just wonder how this moms delivered conjoined twins without anyone knowing? There would be no way that two heads could pass through the birth canal simultaneously.

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Team of 70 Successfully Separates Conjoined Egyptian Twins

Lisa — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 20:46:56 +0000

A team of 70 medical personnel led by Saudi Arabia’s minister of health successfully separated conjoined Egyptian twins on Saturday at a Riyadh hospital, doctors said.

Nine-month-old Hassan and Mahmoud, who were born joined at the abdomen, were separated after nine hours of surgery, Saud al-Jadaan, one of the team’s doctors at King Abdulaziz Medical City, told AFP.

The boys were in separate rooms in the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit as doctors worked to reconstruct the body parts the twins had shared, including bowel, urinary tract and sexual organs.

This was being done to give the boys as much natural organ function as possible.

The operation, which could be seen live on the hospital’s website, was originally expected to take 15 hours but went more quickly than planned, hospital spokesman Sami al-Shalan said.

“We are three hours ahead of time,” he said, attributing that to the operating team’s experience. It was the 21st successful operation to separate conjoined twins at the facility.

The boys should be able to go home to Egypt in two months if there are no complications.

It is amazing to me that there were 70 people assisting with this operation because only 46 people participated in the recent octuplet delivery.

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Surgeons Successfully Separate Conjoined Twins in Phoenix

Lisa — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:39:52 +0000

After more than 12 hours of surgery, doctors at Phoenix Children’s Hospital have successfully separated conjoined twins.

Alex and Angel Mendoza were born last summer and were joined from just below their sternums all the way down through their pelvises.

A team of more than 20 doctors and nurses worked to give the boys separate bodies and the two were stable throughout the surgery.

More surgery is expected today as doctors do reconstruction procedures to close each baby’s body.

Ashley Frank of Kingman gave birth in mid-August to the twins at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix.

The babies were delivered two months early after doctors saw there wasn’t enough amniotic fluid supporting them.

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UK Mom Expecting Rare Conjoined Twins: 2 Heads, 1 Body

Lisa — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 21:22:16 +0000

A British woman plans to make history by becoming the nation’s first mother to give birth to Siamese twins with separate heads but only one body.

Lisa Chamberlain, 25, is determined to go through with the pregnancy despite medical advice that she should terminate the pregnancy.

She was told she was expecting the extremely rare set of twins during a routine scan and insists they are a miracle after years of trying for a child.

‘Some people might look at me and say “You’re going to give birth to a freak” but I don’t care because I feel blessed,’ she said.

‘To me, my twins are a gift from God and we’re determined to give them their chance of life.’

The babies have already been named Layla and Kelsey because the majority of Siamese twins are girls.

The couple are taking comfort from the example of Americans Abigail and Brittany Hensel who were born with separate heads but one body 18 years ago.

The pair, who share organs below the navel, have stunned the world by living virtually normal lives.

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Couple Looses Remaining Conjoined Twin

Lisa — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:28:14 +0000

I am sad to report that conjoined twin Faith Williams lost her fight yesterday, just 23 days after the death of her sister.

Faith and sister Hope were joined at the chest when they were born on 26 November. Hope died in an operation to separate them on 2 December.

Great Ormond Street Hospital said it was a sad but not unexpected outcome.

A hospital spokesman said: “We were always clear that Faith was very sick.

“She required the full range of skills of our intensive care staff, and underwent a number of further procedures. However, she succumbed to the complexities of her condition.”

Faith underwent surgery earlier this month to assist with her circulation.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said: “The aim was to ensure more blood flowed to her body and less through her lungs.”

When Faith and Hope were born they weighed 4.8kg (10.5lb). They were joined from the breastbone to the top of the navel and had a shared liver but separate hearts.

Hope did not survive because her lungs were too small to support her breathing.

Conjoined twins are rare and take place at the rate of about one in 400,000 live births.

Separating a pair involves an intricate operation and success is heavily dependent on which vital organs are shared.

Great Ormond Street, where the surgery on Faith and Hope was carried out, is the most experienced centre in Europe for separating conjoined twins.

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Conjoined Twin Looses Fight After Separation Surgery

Lisa — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:29:00 +0000

I am sad to report that one of the conjoined twins that was born to Laura and Aled Williams last week has lost her fight after being separated yesterday.

Hope Williams died Tuesday night. Her lungs were too small to support her breathing, the lead doctor said.

Hope’s sister, Faith is in stable condition, said Professor Agostino Pierro, the head of the surgical team.

“She requires support for her breathing but she is gradually improving,” Pierro said. “However, it is early days and complications can occur.”

It was originally hoped the operation to separate the girls could be done when they were older, but Pierro said the children’s health had been deteriorating.

“This was an emergency operation because there was a blockage in their joint intestine which could only be resolved through surgery,” he said. “The technical surgery worked well, although it was extremely challenging, and went according to plan.”

More than 20 doctors, nurses and other health professionals were involved in the separation.

We wish the family well and hope that the remaining baby is strong enough to recover from this surgery. Related Articles:

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PHOTOCREDIT:DAILYMAIL.COM

UK Teen Welcomes Conjoined Girls

Lisa — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:32:48 +0000

Laura Williams, 18, has become the youngest woman ever to give birth to Conjoined twins.

The babies, who arrived this morning by Cesarean section operation this morning, are named Faith and Hope.

Both girls are believed to be healthy, according to early reports.

Speaking exclusively to The Daily Mail on Sunday, Laura said:

‘It’s scary every day and it’s been the hardest decision of our lives, but if they’re meant to be in this world and if they’ve come this far, we’ve got to hope they’ll make it the rest of the way.

‘We called them Hope and Faith because I’m always hoping everything’s going to be all right and Mum says she’s got faith in it being all right.’

We wish this couple good luck with the babies.

18-Year-Old Mom To Welcome Conjoined Twins

Lisa — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:26:46 +0000

An 18-year-old British woman is set to make medical history as Britain’s youngest mother to conjoined twins.

Laura Williams is due to give birth this week to her baby girls, already named Faith and Hope.

Only about five per cent of conjoined twins survive the first 24 hours, but because they are joined at the front, doctors say the chances are good in this case. A team of doctors is on standby to ensure both babies survive.

Surgeons are also planning to separate the twins in a complex operation, which is usually done only if both babies have their own heart and spinal chord.

Doctors are set to transfer them from Birmingham’s Women’s Hospital to the city’s Children’s Hospital or Great Ormond Street Hospital in London for the risky procedure.

Conjoined twins are extremely rare — with just one in 200,000 births affected. They are identical twins whose bodies are joined in utero.

We wish this mom luck during her delivery and hope that the babies are healthy on arrival.

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