Woman Gives Birth to Conjoined Twin Girls Who Share a Body but Have Two Brains

An Australian woman has miraculously given birth to conjoined twins with one body and two brains despite doctors initially telling them to terminate the pregnancy.

Renee Young and Simon Howie, of Tregear in Sydney's west, welcomed their daughters on Thursday six weeks before they were due.

The couple, who found out via an ultrasound that the twins they were expecting was in fact one child with two symmetrical faces and two brains connected by the one brain stem, said doctors were shocked by the girls' exceptional progress.
As the parents of seven other children, Renee and her husband Simon Howie never considered terminating while the girls grew healthy
The condition is so rare that only 35 cases have ever been recorded and none have survived.

Due to the incredibly complex nature of their condition, doctors are so unsure about what to expect from the twin’s condition that they are being forced to make their prognoses day by day.

Mr Howie confirmed that specialists are being called in to decipher a range of problems and assess the twins in great depth, from the functioning of their lungs and blood vessels to decisions about how best to proceed with feeding.

But despite all the forewarned medial problems likely to come their way, Ms Young and Mr Howie are just happy their girls are alive and well.

'I think they're beautiful and Simon thinks they're beautiful so really that's all that matters,' Ms Young told A Current Affair.

As the parents of seven other children, Renee and her husband Simon Howie never considered terminating while the girls grew healthy.
The twin girls were not breathing in the first few moments after their birth, leaving their parents in a state of great anxiety.
But despite problems from the first moments of their birth, in which Faith and Hope were not heard to be breathing despite having a clear singular heartbeat, the girls have now defied all odds and are currently in a stable state and breathing without any assistance.

Although the couple were aware from the early stages of pregnancy that their children would have great developmental problems, they explained that while the girls continued to grow healthily, they couldn’t come to terms with letting their unborn twins go.

'We sort of looked at it as; it'd be the same as being a child with autism or Down syndrome. I sort of don't believe in terminating the baby if it's healthy and growing fine and everything is going to plan,' Mr Howie said.

The proud parents of the small survivors have braced themselves for a difficult path ahead and refuse to say goodbye prematurely.

'I would say, if I only get two days with the baby, I only get two days with the baby - at least I have some time with it,' Ms Young said.

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Posted: at 12-05-2014 02:26 PM (9 years ago) | Addicted Hero

They may not survive but at least the babies will not be murdered and looked upon as the devils children!

Posted: at 12-05-2014 03:05 PM (9 years ago) | Gistmaniac

Hmmm.... The parents love to have  the co-joined girls but are they sure the girls will love themselves when they grow older & bcom aware of themselves as 2-in-1? Some mothers take some dangerous drugs when pregnant & this affect their children & when these children grow older, they'll dev inferiority complex & depression.

Posted: at 12-05-2014 03:16 PM (9 years ago) | Gistmaniac

Its is well

Posted: at 12-05-2014 03:28 PM (9 years ago) | Gistmaniac

poster is dat sopoz to be a miracle . Well help dem

Posted: at 12-05-2014 03:47 PM (9 years ago) | Newbie

I comment my reserve

Posted: at 12-05-2014 04:19 PM (9 years ago) | Gistmaniac

Hmmmm

Posted: at 12-05-2014 05:00 PM (9 years ago) | Hero

God  knows the best

Posted: at 12-05-2014 06:17 PM (9 years ago) | Hero

      

Posted: at 12-05-2014 07:31 PM (9 years ago) | Addicted Hero

i hope her decision to keep them was not borne out of publicity and public sympathy sake

Posted: at 12-05-2014 11:25 PM (9 years ago) | Hero