A BRITISH couple have welcomed their “miracle” conjoined twins into the world.
Hannah and Dan Bateson became happy parents to Annabelle and Isabelle and the bundles of joy look like they are constantly hugging.
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After a rollercoaster nine months for Hannah, the twins were born in March.
The couple had turned to fertility treatment last year to help them conceive and were overjoyed when Hannah fell pregnant early on.
However, an early scan gave the couple a scare after it revealed the twins were conjoined, something that only happens in one in every 2.5million pregnancies.
Doctors knew from early on that the girls shared several body parts but they could not tell if any vital organs were affected.
This would be key to their survival and long term health in the future.
Even as the due date grew closer and closer the couple were still in the dark about the girls’ condition and potential birth.
In an interview with ITV, Hannah said: “You felt in limbo because we knew they were conjoined but we knew so little about the information about the extent of the conjoin.”
They were referred to London’s University College Hospital so a specialist team could deliver Anabelle and Isabelle.
And fortunately the twins were born safely because they crucially had separate hearts.
They are joined from the chest to the pelvis, and they share a bladder, bowel and a fused leg.
Mrs Bateson said: “They’re miracles. Miracle is the word we’ve used from the day we found out we were having them.”
The family is now readying themselves for the surgery which will begin the process of separating them, which is scheduled for next month.
Hannah said: “Their wee bodies are different. The girls will have prosthetic legs, they’ll have one leg each and a prosthetic leg each.”
The twins will require multiple surgeries into their teenage years but their parents say they are determined to give both kids a healthy life.
Sadly, around 40% of conjoined twins arrive stillborn, and around 35% survive only one day.
After that long-term survival odds are often pinned on where they are conjoined.