Conjoined Twins

Conjoined twins are two babies are born together physically. Conjoined twins happen when a single fertilized egg doesn’t split all the way. The babies are usually stuck at the head, pelvis, or chest. They can also share internal organs. Most twins who are joined together, will die shortly after birth. Some may be lucky and live longer and try to live there life as normal as possible. The symptoms to knowing if your twins are conjoined are not very specific.

The symptoms to having joined twins is not very specific. The only thing that could happen is the uterus may grow more quickly. The signs that you see would not be for conjoined twins only, but more for women who are pregnant with twins in general. Conjoined twins can be joined in different parts of the bodies.

There are multiple areas where twins can be joined together at. Depending on where you are joined together at, the twins have a certain name that goes along with it. To start with, if the twins are joined together at the bellybutton, they would be known as Omphalopagus twins. They share a liver and sometimes the small intestine but not a heart. If you are conjoined at the chest you are considered thoracopagus twins. These twins do share a heart, as well as a large intestine and maybe even the liver. Pygopagus twins are joined at the base of the spine. These twins share the lower back, and a few will share the genital and urinary organs. If you are joined at the pelvis you are Ischiopagus twins and if you are joined at the head you are considered Craniopagus twins. Twins that are joined at the pelvis share close to what twins that are joined at the lower back. And twins that are joined at the head share a skull, and the part of the brain that controls memory, and also brain tissue. Many twins who are joined together have separate arms and legs but that’s not always the case. There has got to be a cause for the conjoining.

The conjoining of twins happen when an egg splits between 13 and 14 days instead of before 12. This happens because once you get so far into it the egg does not fully split and it makes your twins conjoined. Whereas if the egg splits all the way before 12 days you will have twins that are not joined together.

There are many facts about conjoined twins. Such as, one child in 50,000 is born connected to another. About 500 such babies are known to have survived their first year, and fewer than a dozen are living in the United States today. Also other ones are, Conjoined twins occur once every 200,000 live births. Forty percent to 60 percent of conjoined twins arrive stillborn, and about 35 percent survive only one day. The overall survival rate of conjoined twins is between 5 percent and 25 percent. Approximately 70 percent of all conjoined twins are girls. Although more male twins conjoin in the womb than female twins, females are three times as likely to be born alive. Conjoined twins are genetically identical and are, therefore, always the same sex. They develop from the same fertilized egg.

In conclusion, there are many thing to learn about conjoined twins. There are risks and a high chance of you losing your babies if they are joined together. Conjoined twins, if they make it past the first day, like to be known as two different people and as individuals.

What are some of the more severe risks of being a conjoined twin?

What are some troubles that twins go through becuase they are joined together?

What do they twins think of themselves if they were joined together.?

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