Parents of ‘miracle’ conjoined twins – couple say ‘hug each other constantly’ –

The British couple shared their joy after the ‘miracle’ birth of their one-in-two million conjoined twins.

After a nine-month roller coaster ride, Hannah and Dan Bateson from Toomebridge, Northern Ireland, welcomed Annabelle and Isabelle into the world in March.

The couple started fertility treatment last year to help them get pregnant and was surprised to learn that Ms. Bateson was pregnant during her first cycle.

But they were shocked when the first scan revealed that the twins were conjoined, and this statistically happens only once in 2.5 million pregnancies.

Doctors knew that the girls shared several important body parts, but they still couldn’t tell if vital organs were affected, which is a key factor for their long-term survival and health.

“You felt uninformed because we knew they were Siamese, but we knew very little about the body knowledge of Siamese,” said Ms. Bateson. ITV News †

Even as the deadline approaches, the couple said they still know “little” about the girls’ circumstances and how they will go about it.

Mr and Mrs Bateson were referred to University College Hospital in London in March to have the babies delivered by a specialist team.

Doctors revealed that Annabelle and Isabelle, now six weeks old, were joined from chest to pelvis and shared a bladder, intestines, and a combined leg, but most importantly, they had a separate heart.

“They’re miracles. Curiosity has been the word we’ve been using since we found out we had them,” said Ms. Bateson.

Her parents, Hannah and Dan Bateson, pictured here with their twins shortly after their birth, are originally from Toomebridge, Northern Ireland, but have traveled to England in case the newborn babies need special medical care later on.

The twins are attached from the thorax to the pelvis and share a bladder, bowel, and fused leg.

Proud parents describe their babies as ‘constantly cuddling’ ‘miracles’

Now the new family is preparing for the next challenge with surgery to begin separating them, scheduled for next month.

Ms Bateson said, “Small sizes are different. The girls are given leg prostheses, one leg and one leg each.’

Annabelle and Isabelle will require more surgeries in their teenage years, and their parents will argue that they are committed to helping their daughter lead healthy lives.

Normally, twins are born when a single fertilized egg divides and develops into two single embryos.

After she managed to get pregnant after only one cycle of fertility treatment, a later scan showed that Ms. Bateson was not only pregnant with twins, but they were linked.

The extent of the fusion was unknown, but fortunately the twins have separate hearts, which means they can be surgically separated.

Annabelle and Isabelle will be operated on next month to free them.

Division normally takes place 8 to 12 days after conception, and the embryos develop their own tissues and organs separately.

However, in conjoined twins, it is believed that this division occurs too late and the embryos do not separate.

About 40-60% of Siamese twins are stillborn, while about 35% only survive one day.

Long-term survival may depend on where they join, twins most often in the chest, abdomen, or pelvis, but they can also be joined at the head.

If they survive, some twins can be separated surgically, but the success of these surgeries depends on exactly where the twins are joined and what organs they share.

It is very sad that in some cases only one twin survives the surgery.

Twins who share a heart cannot be successfully separated and so it is imperative that little Annabelle and Isabelle do not share this organ.

Statistically speaking, 680,000 babies are born in the UK each year, while Siamese twins will be born in the UK every four years.