Conjoined twins die in Indian hospital.

The conjoined twins born in India last month have died in hospital. I carried the story (here)when they were born.

The girls, born with two heads but only one body, died last week in a Delhi hospital without ever being held by their mom. The rare conjoined twins survived 20 days after they were born, but their grief-stricken mother could not bear to look at them.

The babies’ father, Subhash, said his wife loved the girls but could not “take them in her arms and cuddle them when they were alive,” and never saw or touched the babies after they were born.

He also said that he had held out hope that one day he could bring his special little girls home to be part of the family.

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“Even though doctors had told us that they had minimal chances of survival we hoped they’d live,” he said.“I wanted to raise them and for our daughter to have sisters but God had a different plan. The fact they survived for 20 days was even a miracle.”

After the little girls’ death on April 2, Subhash traveled to the hospital to take home the twins and give them a burial according to Hindu tradition. “Now I feel they have been set free. I buried them myself, according to Hindu rituals, but my wife couldn’t face it.”

The doctor who delivered the babies said that it was a miracle that the babies had survived as long as they did.

“I was shocked they had lasted longer than 24 hours never mind surviving for 20 days,” Dr. Shikha Malik said, pointing out that during the infants’ first days, while one girl would cry the other would sleep.

Ultimately the twins, who were born with one body, two heads, two necks, two spines and two separate esophagi and tracheas, died because their shared heart could not keep up with the stress of their rare condition.

The little girl’s father said the family is devastated by the loss and added that he believes a lack of prenatal care contributed to the little girls’ birth.

“I will make sure that if my wife gets pregnant again, she gets proper medical assistance throughout the pregnancy so that we’re more prepared next time,” the twins’ father said.

**Rest in peace little ones.