A rare set of identical female triplets — including two conjoined at the pelvis — have been born at a south Texas hospital.
Corpus Christi Medical Center said the three baby girls — Catalina, Ximena and Scarlett — were delivered Saturday by C-Section one day shy of 34 weeks. All weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces and were currently breathing without the assistance of a respirator, the hospital said.
Parents Sylvia Hernandez and Roel Torrez called the girls a miracle sent from God.
"God chose us to take care of these babies,” Torrez said in a statement released by the hospital. “We put our faith in God's hands first and everything will be alright.”
Torrez said that at an initial scan the doctors heard two hearts and the couple were happy because they thought they would have a girl and a boy. But after his wife fell ill, medics realized three were on the way and two of them were conjoined.
The twins are separate from their bellybutton up, but they are connected at the pelvis. The girls have separate legs and can move them. They also have separate bladders but part of their intestines and abdominal wall is attached.
Doctors say it'll be six months to a year before they can even attempt to separate the girls. The babies will have to undergo many tests before that is done.
“We don’t care if they’re conjoined, if they get separated or not,” Torrez told NBC station KRIS. “That’s something God sent us to take of and we are going to the best we can.”
