A family in New York have shared an amazing picture of twin babies who have seen each other for the first time after being conjoined at the head for 13 months.
Last year Nicole McDonald gave birth to adorable twins Jadon and Anias who were born with craniopagus- the couple found out their twins were conjoined in the womb at 17 weeks. Nicole had an emergency C-section when she went into labour at 32 weeks, and both twins were born at the same time at 11:11pm on September 9 2015.
Once they were born, for the first 13 months of their lives they were joined together at their head, as Nicole explained on the Go Fund Me page she started to pay for all the medical care the family will need.
She's also explained the difficulties the twins faced since they were born: "These boys have had every test under the sun. They've had blood draws, blood transfusions, IVs, echocardiograms, kidney scans, ultrasounds of their heads, a CT scan, an MRI, multiple xrays. Anias has had swallow studies, scopes of his airways, and multiple types of oxygen support."
Bless them!
Nicole appears to have stayed strong throughout the ordeal, although she broke our hearts when she admitted that when she couldn't hold her boys she had to find other ways to comfort them: "I press my cheek against theirs and whisper in their ears that it's going to be ok. I hold their hands and rub their backs.
"I crawl up in their hospital crib and lay with them. Occasionally, we take them for wagon rides around the neonatal intensive care nursery.
"Until they are separated, my boys will never sit up,' she added at the time.
"I won't be able to put them up on my shoulder and hold them."
Cute!
"They will struggle with eating. I can't just swoop them up and snuggle them. All the things you take for granted with a typical baby, I yearn for."
However, after 16 hours of successful surgery back on October 14th, the boys have now amazingly been separated, and recent pictures show them seeing each other face to face for the first time.
How adorable are they?
Both boys are now recovering from their skin grafts in Montefiore Hospital in New York, and Nicole has shared adorable pictures of them smiling - the family is hoping they will soon move to a rehab hospital.
The mum-of-three has shared an emotional message in which she thanks her friends, family and God.
Our thoughts are with the lovely family and we trust they have a bright future ahead of them!
The families goal was to raise over $100,000 but people have donated well over $200,000 for the boys, you can donate here.
You might also like to read...
7 Things you should know if you are caring for someone with dementia/Alzheimer’s disease