Newborn Twins Conjoined at Heart and Liver in Critical Condition
Chance and Chandler were born Monday in a Georgia hospital.
— -- Twin boys who share a heart and liver remain in critical condition at a Georgia hospital less than 24 hours after they were born, officials said today.
The two boys, named Chandler and Chance, were delivered by cesarean section Monday and are being cared for at the neonatal intensive care unit of the Children’s Hospital of Georgia, hospital officials said.
The pregnancy was the first for the boys' mother, Brittany Crafton. The 26-year-old had no idea that she was having twins, much less conjoined twins, until her second sonogram, according to the hospital website.
“I knew something had to be different when the ultrasound took longer than expected. The news of them being conjoined was truly surreal,” Crafton said in an article on the hospital website.
Crafton declined through the Children’s Hospital of Georgia to speak to ABC News today.
The delivery was the first time a set of conjoined twins was born at the hospital, officials said. The overall occurrence of conjoined twins is rare, with approximately one per 50,000 to 60,000 births, according to the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Paul Browne, section chief of maternal-fetal medicine at Georgia Regents University and Health System, which oversees Children’s Hospital of Georgia, said in an earlier statement he was hopeful that the boys' prognosis would be good after delivery.
“We have tools that help us predict children’s chances of survival, but most of that depends upon the heart,” Browne said in a statement released last week. “What makes this case special is that the heart the twins share is quite normal and has been functioning very well for them. So, we believe it will continue to function well after the delivery.”
Crafton said she is relying on her faith to help her though the delivery and care for the new infants.
"I know God’s got me, and He’ll continue to be with me even after the twins are born,” Crafton said in a hospital statement released last week. “This experience has helped me to look at ‘different’ people differently, and I have gained a real compassion for what they go through.”