On October 13, 2021, the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, performed separation surgery for the largest conjoined baby girl in November. Conjoined baby girls, who share a diaphragm and liver, have now been successfully isolated after 10 hours of surgery.
Maggie did a routine ultrasound at 20 weeks of pregnancy and found that the twins in her womb were conjoined baby girls.
Maggie Altobelli, 33, from Chicago, Illinois, reportedly underwent routine ultrasounds when she was 20 weeks pregnant and found her twin daughters in her wombs joined together.
Fortunately, they soon discovered that both daughters had their own hearts, but they shared a diaphragm and were connected by the liver.
Experts at the consultation said it would be impossible to separate the twins if they shared a heart.
Maggie and her husband, Dom Altobelli, 34, decided to move to Pennsylvania to work with Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on childbirth and separation.
Maggie and Dom are surrounded by conjoined twin daughters.
On November 18, 2020, when Maggie was 34 weeks pregnant, she gave birth to Addy and Lily by caesarean section, and the two baby girls were immediately admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit.
Shortly after birth, the two children underwent their first surgery. Attending physician Holly Hedrick said they underwent tissue dilation to help them grow some skin because their chest wall was shared from under the collarbone all the way to the navel.
The operation lasted 10 hours and the conjoined baby girl was successfully separated.
On October 13, 2021, two baby girls underwent separation surgery. The operation lasted 10 hours and the conjoined baby girl was successfully separated.
On Dec. 1, the couple moved back to Chicago with their children.
The couple held the child in their arms and gave a television interview to tell their story.
For now, the two children still use snorkels, but doctors think they have hope that they will soon be able to breathe on their own. They also use feeding tubes but have been practicing eating. They also receive physical, occupational and speech therapy.
Text/Nandu reporter Chen Lin