CHICAGO, IL, September 19, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Conjoined twins who were born by C-section on September 6, are growing fast and “breathing room air,” according to their blogging mother.
Amanda Schulten, the Chicago area woman who had refused doctors’ advice to abort her conjoined twins and defied their prognosis that they would die before birth anyway, posted the most recent status of her daughters September 16.
“Time is really going by so fast,” she said. “From what I can remember I think they gained almost a whole pound already.”
“Hope has a million bubbles. She can really make them big too!” Schulten said. “Faith is always smiling and awake for me. ”
The birth of the two girls flew in the face of all medical predictions. When Schulten learned that she was pregnant with conjoined twins earlier this year, she was told that the babies did not have very long to live, and that she should have an abortion. Instead Amanda, who is pro-life and entered the Catholic Church this Easter, chose to carry the children to term.
The new mother now reports that the twins, who share the same heart and liver, and have only two kidneys and two legs, “were holding hands while sleeping.”
Since their birth, the little girls have been baptized. Schulten’s sister and brother-in-law are the twins’ godparents. That same day, September 10, Schulten held her daughters for the first time.
On her blog Schulten has shared with readers her nightly routine with the little girls. She said that before she leaves for the night, she holds each of her girls’ hands in her own and says a prayer.
“It’s such a silly thing I do but I feel like it’s working,” she said. “I love my days with them.”