Parents with conjoined twins born sharing a heart are 'confident in God' for their future'
Conjoined twin boys sharing one heart were delivered by Caesarean section on Thursday at Northside Hospital in Atlanta.
The twins, Asa and Eli Hamby, share one heart, circulatory system, and liver, and can never be separated, the Daily Mail reports.
The boys' parents, Michael and Robin, had a low probability of conceiving, and were surprised when Robin gave birth to a daughter, Selah, 22 months ago. When they discovered they were pregnant for a second time, the couple was ecstatic.
The Hambys' joy turned to concern during their first ultrasound, however.
"I asked the ultrasound tech if there were two babies in there," Robin recounted. "As a nurse I knew enough about ultrasounds to tell that it wasn't just one baby.
"The answer she gave me wasn't an answer any mother could ever be prepared to receive. She said, 'Yes, you are having twins but I believe they are conjoined.'"
Robin admitted that she was initially disturbed by the news.
"Obviously, I was upset when I found out," she said.
"You want your babies to be healthy. You want your babies to not feel any pain or have to go through surgeries, or all the things that come into your mind when you think what could happen to conjoined twins. You always want healthy babies."
Still, the Hambys thanked God for the pregnancy.
"Children are a gift from God, and Selah was a miracle," Robin told the Ledger Enquirer. "It gives us more confidence in God for the twins."
Because of the high risk pregnancy, doctors initially referred the couple to a maternal-fetal specialist. Michael said the experience was less than positive.
"They were trying to push toward termination, but we're strong Christian people, and we don't believe in that," he said. "After telling them no, they started dealing out statistics and things of that nature. So we decided not to see them anymore."
Robin carried the babies for 37 weeks, and the C-section was without complications. The boys weighed nine pounds and 10 ounces, and are doing well.
The chances of having dicephalic parapagus conjoined twins is one in a million.
