Conjoined Twins' Process of Separation

Jan. 6, 2005 -- -- On a rainy day in 2003, Kevin and Melissa Buckles began a long and difficult journey when they found out their unborn babies were conjoined.

The couple say they never considered aborting the pregnancy. It was not a matter of religious conviction -- they just felt the girls deserved their shot at life. They had also already come up with names for the babies: Jade and Erin.

At least three out of every 1,000 births worldwide are twins. Only about one in every 40,000 conceptions are conjoined twins. Only one in 200,000 of those survive to birth. And when conjoined twins are born, only a quarter of them survive past their first day.

ABC News' Charlie Gibson followed the Buckles through their daughters' birth and the separation surgery. He also witnessed how this young couple -- one a schoolteacher, the other a Marine -- never lost trust with their goal to have two little girls.

Gibson watched as the experience filled the couple with hope and faith -- the middle names they gave their girls.

One of the most difficult days came when Melissa was 18 weeks pregnant, and they were shown their first ultrasound images.

They were told they were having twins, and they laughed, a little surprised. Then the technician offered to show them what was exactly in the pictures. Melissa took Kevin's hand.

"We just asked what was wrong," he said. "And she told us they appear to be conjoined at mid-chest to the abdomen."

The next day, they met with an expert at the National Naval Medical Hospital in Bethesda, Md., who explained that their twins were conjoined at the chest and abdomen. Later, they learned that the girls' shared umbilical cord was wrapped around one girl's neck and Melissa was ordered to the hospital on strict bed rest.

Five weeks before Melissa's due date -- 34 weeks into the pregnancy -- contractions began. With each contraction, the babies' heart rates declined. The carefully planned birth suddenly became an emergency.