really not sure what to think of this, I mean will the baby live?

[Saint2shoes]

here

tbh, given the fact the pregnancy is still so early, and there are still no certainties, I think the fact she has already gone to the tabloids over this says a lot about her...

I would like to think that if she does terminate she will be given as much fertility treatment as possible to allow her to have a healthy baby.

I'm sure there are people who have just read that and wondered why I am assuming the babies she is pregnant with are 'unhealthy'.

I'm not sure what I think about this one, tbh.

well I should imagine gossip of a mother carrying conjoined twins that have 2 heads and one body which the mother has decided to keep does tend to spread like wild fire...

Of course she could have gone straight to the Sun with the story (who incidently say that she found out she was pg on the 18th December), or gossip could have spread and she'd been hounded by the blooody paparzzi that they are who like a nice "freak" story to lure their readers in....... (disclaimer - using this term as a description of the type of stories that many Sun readers like to read, not as how I would describe the babies).

again bubble that would depend on where she lived (post code lottery and all).

There is a mn'er who had a stillbirth at 40 weeks but was still allowed IUI and IVF on the nhs. But my SIL who lives in a different area has been told IVF is her only chance of conceiving but she lives in berkshire who do not fund ivf at all.

Unless that is her motivation re going to the tabloids? perhaps a couple of weeks down the line she will decide to have a termination and then it'll already have been in the press so some mystery benefactor will fund her future fertility treatments?

'the girls in the states DO NOT live normal lives'

'how likely are they to be able to have lovers? get amrried? have babies?'

I Just had to reply to this

There are people all over the world who do not have these things in their lives, or do not do these things in their lifetime

Nuns dont have lovers
The infertile dont have babies, not everyone wants to have babies
Not everyone wants to get married

Farking ell are these the only things that give us quality of life? erm no, there are many people who live happy NORMAL lives without doing any of them

FAQ, how would this news spread though? Surely hospital staff are bound by ethical codes not to leak the story. Can only have been the couple I reckon.

Even if someone in the EPU had told someone else, who told someone else, etc, someone then had to alert newspapers (and why choose the Sun?), and then lo and behold she's giving an exclusive interview . Real life used for lurid tabloid trash - nice.

well I wouldn't put it past any of my family to spread something like that for their own gain, so whats to say that someone close to them didn't spill - hoping to gain from it, but instead the couple choosing to speak out themselves.

Of course they could equally have decided just to go to the Sun to make some easy cash.

We don't know - and may never know

And actually - I agree with Kerry's very succint post further up (FWIW)

If the parents didn't speak to the papers first then a very serious breach of confidentiality has taken place and the staff member concerned should be dismissed.

no - that's what I'm saying it wouldn't have to be a staff member......I'm sure they must have discussed it with some family/close friends (wouldn't they??).

Actually my heart goes out to this girl. What a decision to have to make.
but i think most of us, in this situation would have a gut reaction about what to do, one way or the other. She should go with that and its not for any of us to criticise.

FAQ I concieved on 10th Nov (which I know for a fact as first & only time since dc born in July) & on Friday I was 9 weeks...so she will be around 6/7...maybe?

I find myself wondering whether thyere is more of a chance of survival for the babies because there will be no 'separation' type intervention?

I don't know how possible it would have been for Faith and Hope to have lived joined together, and I imagine they wanted to try and give them the best quality of life that they could - but if they don't try and separate these little guys, maybe they will have a better chance? I don't know.

I'd find it extremely difficult to terminate, whatever the circumstances, I'm pro-life for me and pro-choice for others.

don't see why these twins shouldn't be given the same chances as every other baby, including the scarily premature and the seemingly healthy who go on to develop various costly lifelong physical/mental health conditions

don't see why she shouldn't have sold her story either, it's a genuinely interesting one. I hope things work out for this family.

'
Unless that is her motivation re going to the tabloids? perhaps a couple of weeks down the line she will decide to have a termination and then it'll already have been in the press so some mystery benefactor will fund her future fertility treatments?'

TBH if that worked for her then why not? Seriously. Whatever happens- and I suspect that the chances of the babies surviving pregnancy and birth are slim- she will have been through Hell.

Or maybe she just thought 'right, I've decided I'm doing this, how the heck am I going to afford it? Let's see... disability and carers benefits- oh not until they're a few months old, that won't cover much then... sod, it, let's try The Sun'

Not my paper but I imagine she could put a few quid to better use than some dizzy wannabe (- no pun iontended, well not much ) who snogged a footballer once in tenerife.

sorry Riven, you don't know that it has to brains or will develop two brains. There is only one heart. The girls in America have seperate hearts. There was a case of a two headed baby where one head is non functional and deformed - this may be similiar.

Baby - if her dates are correct then there is still a possibility that the 2nd heart simply hadn't started beating yet. It's not an "exact" science when the heart starts beating (in much the same way as lung maturity isn't an exact science) . So if she IS only 6 weeks or so then a 2nd heartbeat could stil be found at later date.

A scan in the next few weeks will revcela whether she has 2 brains though won't it? Much in the way anencephaly is picked up? If the second head is indeed devoid of a brain structure then potentially whole new avenues could be opened in the future in relation to reconstructive surgery if the family feel that is what they want.

Two brains denotes two people but even then you'd still be looking at a very outside chance I think of both babies surviving pregnancy, birth and the neonatal period, nature after all has a habit of solving her own dilemmas, and in many ways I hope she does here.

Clarissimo I'm sure your last sentence wasn't meant in the way it came across? It sounds like you hope they will not make it.
I also hope nature decides but I mean that in the sense that I would find it hard to take the decision myself.
So that if they survive that's brilliant, and if they don't that's just how it goes.

Faith and Hope had to be separated because a blockage in their bowel put their lives at risk. And that is apparently what reduced their chances of survival so dramatically. Twins who are separated during scheduled surgery apparently have an 80% chance of survival, but if they have to be separated in an emergency that survival rate drops to 20%.

For these babies separation is not an option. But I imagine that one of the reasons why their chances of survival is so slim is because if they share a heart then they will A have a very complex vascular system, and B, the heart will have to work much harder to support it, and therefore the heart will be put under immense straing from the outset which is likely to lead to heart failure.

Peachy perhaps you are right. I guess if the press are going to get a hold of the story (and they most likely would if these babies survive for any time) then the parents might as well be the ones to cash in on it. I just don't have a very high opinion of people who sell out to the media, esp as this has happened so early on.

I think that re nature taking it's course it's a very difficult one tbh. Obviously no-one knows what the future holds. but the likelyhood of these twins surviving is so incredibly small that perhaps it would be best that nature take its course earlier in the pregnancy.

I am holey in favour of not terminating a pregnancy if there is a chance of survival. But if there isn't, then I do believe that continuing with a pregnancy and giving birth to a baby (or babies) that are going to die at birth purely because the mother wants to go through pregnancy and birth is wrong.

but there is a chance of a survival - albeit a very small one.....

However, this debate is really going to round and round in circles with none of us changing our minds so I shall go and find something else to do

Thankyou Wannabe. You're far more informed than I am.

One thing about the 'sell out' issue - the mother at least didn't appear from the videotape to be incredibly bright, or perhaps educated - I may be very wrong and it isn't implied as an insult.
But were I not better educated I would not know why selling my story was a dubious thing to do - I would see there was money on offer, feel I had a valid story that people 'wanted', and probably just do it without a second thought.
So I can see why they might have done it. Just perhaps didn't see a reason not to.

I agree with Riven, thats how I view it.

And tbh helen it was sort of meant like that in a non-callous way... I would hazard a guess that the least suffering for Mum and child would be if babies lived for a short while and got love etc, mum could meet them- no trauma of possible abortion, no pain for them with ongoing procedures: however I am only meaning if babies were severely in pain and needing lots and lots of intervention in a very short life as per Faith and Hope- my honest wish obviously is that these children live a fulfilling pain free life in good health: whatever happens they will be loved deeply which is far more than so many chidlren seem to get and counts for an awful lot.

I thought so Clariss, I think essentially we all want the same for the poor little mites.

Thanks for making it clearer though.