For the first time in their lives, fifteen-month-old Abby Delaney and Erin Delaney have their own bodies.
The twin girls were born conjoined at the skull, which made any possibility of separation life-threatening.
“When you see stories of conjoined twins being separated it’s so exciting and everyone is so happy…I wasn’t able to have that moment for a while,” their mother Heather Delaney wrote on her blog.
According to The Washington Post, Heather and her husband, Riley, discovered their daughters were cojoined over a year ago when Heather was only 11 weeks pregnant. She delivered Abby and Erin prematurely, and it was the beginning of an emotionally draining battle for their lives.
Just a few months ago some 30 doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals spent 11 long hours meticulously disconnecting the girl’s heads.
“This is one of the earliest separations of craniopagus conjoined twins ever recorded,” Jesse Taylor, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told the newspaper. “We know that children heal better and faster the younger they are, therefore our goal for Erin and Abby was separation as soon as possible with minimum number of surgeries.”
During the surgery, Erin stopped breathing and Abby’s head started bleeding. Miraculously, the babies survived the procedure.
Heather Delaney said she felt helpless through the surgery.
“Feeling helpless was the new normal, and I hated it,” she wrote. “The worst part is everyone keeps asking, ‘If you are ok.’ That’s when you know things aren’t good. When you have person after person asking if you’re ok, if they can get you anything, trying to hug you or pat you on the back to offer some support. It’s moments like that were you just want everyone to go away and leave you alone.
Now, the girls are recovering, though their weakened immune systems make them more vulnerable to disease.
Meanwhile, Heather Delaney calls her children an inspiration.
“As their parents, it is very neat for Riley and me to have a front row seat to this and watch them overcome these incredible obstacles,” she said in a statement. “We cannot wait to see what their future holds!”
