00:00Callie and Carter are phallo-ischiopagus conjoined twins,
00:04meaning that they share from the stomach
00:06down into the pelvis area.
00:09Kids will come up and just like look at them a little bit
00:11and they'll just say, are they stuck?
00:13And then I'm just like, they got stuck inside the tummy
00:16and now they're here and this is what happens.
00:19First, we kind of take a peek
00:21to make sure they're really awake.
00:23Carter likes to sleep more than Callie does.
00:26But Carter will pop back up.
00:29Hi, hello, hi, boop, hang on.
00:40It takes two people normally to wash them.
00:44Oh, is that cold?
00:49This part's Callie, this part's Carter.
00:50Their blood supply clashes together
00:53like two waves into one body.
00:56They have separate hearts, separate stomachs,
01:00separate heads, of course.
01:04What else do they have separate?
01:05Personalities.
01:06Personalities, they have separate personalities.
01:14It's Jason's first day of school.
01:16This is actually our first time without brother
01:18for a couple of hours.
01:20Usually they have brother to play with.
01:23It's okay, daddy, be right back.
01:26That's when we can see their little faces a little bit.
01:30This is the first ultrasound we had.
01:32This is the day that we found out
01:34they were possibly conjoined, July 15th.
01:38I do believe 10 weeks, two or three days as well.
01:42That's when we 100% found out
01:44that they were conjoined was in this picture.
01:48They just kind of flipped us upside down.
01:53They told us that they had high drops,
01:56which kills almost all the babies that get it.
01:57At the very, very beginning,
01:59we thought abortion would be the best option.
02:02No one wants to carry their kids through nightmares,
02:04just have them die.
02:08We didn't, but we stuck with our gut, and here we are.
02:17This is the first picture we ever got of them face to face.
02:20There's a face right here and another face right here.
02:24This was Carter right here.
02:30This is the first time I've actually, I think,
02:32looked at these since the girls were born,
02:34because I would just think that they were gonna die
02:36as soon as they were here.
02:41After the 24 hours, once they were born,
02:43Carter had a little bit of breathing problems,
02:45but they were doing good.
02:47I have two perfect babies.
02:50A huge pressure was just removed from us,
02:53because now the dread of,
02:55my babies are gonna die when they come out, is gone,
02:58because they were here, and they were here to stay.
03:05This one's Callie.
03:07Callie's the one who lays back.
03:09She's more relaxed.
03:10She has a little bit of scratches on her face
03:12because Carter beat her up in the car.
03:16She's just something else.
03:19She fights with her sister.
03:21She'll fight with the dog.
03:22She'll fight with Jason.
03:24She fights with us.
03:26So she's actually very vicious.
03:29Yeah, you.
03:31This is Callie and Carter's room.
03:32They sleep in here.
03:33They take naps in here.
03:35They get their diaper changed in here.
03:37Sometimes they'll get dressed in here,
03:38and they have their little music box
03:40that they can't sleep without.
03:42So they just wake up.
03:44I usually will nurse them,
03:46and then that's when they go into the living room,
03:49where they spend most of their time.
03:51We were vastly unprepared for babies to come home.
03:54We were.
03:56We didn't have clothes.
03:59Completely caught us off guard.
04:00This is the first outfit I made for Callie and Carter.
04:03I actually buy regular clothes from the back,
04:08and I cut them in half a certain way.
04:19They like to play on the ground.
04:21They can scoot and get everywhere around the house.
04:31So Callie and Carter's clothes.
04:34Just like that.
04:36I've made about 20 pieces so far, I'd say.
04:41That's how much I've made.
04:42They like to venture into the kitchen
04:43and try to spill the dog food,
04:46but other than that, they just hang out here.
04:52Teacher, did it put on red or green or blue?
04:55It's been good.
04:56What'd you learn?
04:57Oh, like the ABCs.
04:59The ABCs?
05:00Yeah, and the one, two, threes.
05:03Hey, sisters, come on to school.
05:06You okay?
05:08Jason gets along with them good.
05:10If they are crying and one of us are busy,
05:12he'll go in there and play with them until we're done.
05:16What does Callie do?
05:18She likes to play with things.
05:21She likes to play with things?
05:22What does Carter do?
05:24She scoots.
05:26She scoots.
05:27How many heads does Callie and Carter have?
05:30Two.
05:30Is that different?
05:32Yeah.
05:33Are Callie and Carter, what are Callie and Carter,
05:35are they special?
05:37They're special.
05:38Are they like other babies?
05:40No.
05:41No.
05:42Go, good job!
05:44There's been old ladies who've been like,
05:47oh, God wouldn't have wanted those children alive.
05:50Some people just kind of stare.
05:51They don't expect them to walk till about four,
05:55but I honestly think it's gonna be about eight.
05:57So we don't expect the coordination to start happening
06:00until they are a lot older.
06:01Push, push, push.
06:03Go get it!
06:04We don't feel comfortable separating the twins
06:07because they're gonna be more unhealthy
06:09when we have them separated than they are right now.
06:12This one, play with.
06:14The only way we would do separation surgery
06:16for Callie and Carter is if a health issue arise
06:19or if they want to be separated.
06:24We want them to completely understand the risks.
06:30The girls' health is really good.
06:31They don't have to take any medication.
06:33They get like a little cold here and there,
06:35like normal kids.
06:38Hopefully the future holds good things for them
06:41and that they are just happy
06:42in the skin that they're in
06:44and that they don't want to change
06:45because we love them the way they are.
06:49Just knowing that they're healthy
06:50and they're learning at an everyday rate,
06:53it's a good feeling knowing that,
06:56to them, nothing's wrong.
06:58They are not afraid to do anything.
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