I won't have them separated

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00:00Can they be separated? Yes, they can be separated. The reason why we have not chose separation

00:07was because we moved to Houston, Texas from Idaho when we were 22, 23 years old.

00:12Doctors recommend termination of conjoined twin pregnancies due to the generally low odds of

00:17survival for the children and the health risks for the mother. I got thrown into a position where

00:23I had to decide to terminate, which I was never really, termination was never really for me,

00:28even though the baby would, even if the baby didn't have a brain, I would still have it and

00:34donate the organs. Callie and Carter were born in February 2017, with doctors only giving them a

00:405% chance of survival. The fact that they are still here is a miracle. I expected to have kids. I

00:47really did. The doctors call us into a conference room and they say, hey, guess what? We are going

00:54to go ahead and not do the surgery. Their professional opinion was not to do surgery.

01:04She decided to leave the option of surgery open to the girls in the future if they decide

01:09they want to pursue it. This one's Callie and this one's Carter. Okay. So Callie and Carter both have

01:15four arms between them. So they all have this upper part right here. Right here is where Callie and Carter,

01:22like the sternum area, is where Callie and Carter start to connect. Callie and Carter are examples

01:28of pygophagus twins, whereby they are conjoined at the pelvis. Twins of this category typically have

01:34a survival rate of 68%. They don't connect internally. They connect outside. Carter's stomach is on the

01:42opposite side against this chair. So it's actually towards her back. Conjoined twins are seen in one in

01:48every 200,000 births around the world. Unfortunately, 60% of these children are stillborn. Pygophagus

01:55twins make up only 17% of conjoined twin cases, most commonly seen in girls. Carter, normal tummy.

02:02They both have two kidneys between them. What connects is they were probably from their intestines,

02:10like from their intestines to their legs connect. Each girl controls one leg. For most of their life,

02:16they got around using a specialized wheelchair. But now they're learning to walk and coordinate their

02:21movements together. So if you were to go in there, the second part of their intestine is all like

02:26jumbled up and everything. And so they use the restroom together. And then they both have two legs

02:32between them. Despite this, they try their best to live a normal life. They go to school and physical

02:37therapy. They play with their friends. They're two little girls with a very rare and unique life experience.

02:43So meaning one. So while Carter has this leg, Callie has this leg. And they do both control each leg.

02:53These brave two girls will one day have a big decision to make. But until then,

02:57they're happy being the wonderful little children they are.