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Conjoined twins born in Phoenix hospital
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PHOENIX - A Kingman woman has given birth to conjoined twins, delivered eight weeks early by Caesarean section.
The babies, born Wednesday at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, are joined from the middle of the chest to the bottom of their torsos. Together, they weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces.
"They are acting very normal for babies this age," said Dr. Stuart Lacey, a pediatric surgeon with Phoenix Children's Hospital who will treat the children for the foreseeable future.
Conjoined twins are rare: fewer than one in 200,000 live births.
"I'm excited and I'm terrified," said the children's 20-year-old mother, Ashley Frank. "I know it's going to be crazy. But I know I will love them."
The children's father is Frank's boyfriend, 40-year-old Johnny Mendoza - who said he's "nervous and excited" about having twins.
The gender of the children has yet to be determined because of how they are fused together, doctors said.
At some point in the next year, when they are strong enough for the lengthy procedure, the children will be separated at Phoenix Children's.
"It will happen. It will be a complex separation," Lacey said.
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