Woman prepares to deliver conjoined twins with shared heart
Posted: November 8, 2015 - 4:00am

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — If all goes as planned, a Georgia woman will deliver conjoined twin boys at an Augusta hospital.

Their mother, Brittany Crafton, says that is God's plan for them and that is how she plans to raise them for now.

Chance Aiden Crafton and Chandler Kaiden Crafton are expected to be born on Monday, The Augusta Chronicle reported (http://bit.ly/1WCARv2).

Crafton's first ultrasound had appeared normal, but when she went back at four months the sonographer made an unexpected discovery: There were two heads and what appeared to be one chest and one heart.

Crafton, 26, said hearing the news was like being in a movie.

"It's not real," she told the Augusta newspaper.

After more tests and more images, she looked up on the screen and she saw it:

"The two babies and the one chest and the one heart beating, moving," Crafton said. "That's when it got real."

Conjoined twins are rare. In the U.S., the rate is estimated to be around one per 200,000 births, the Augusta newspaper reported.

The twins appear to share a heart and a liver in their conjoined chest, the newspaper reported. Since Crafton came to the hospital, she has been through various testing to try to determine the health of those organs, in particular the heart.

"What is exceptional about her twins is that their shared common heart is actually pretty normal," said Dr. Paul Browne, a maternal and fetal medicine specialist at Georgia Regents Medical Center.

"It's been functioning very well for the kids, and we think it is going to function well for them after the delivery," Browne said.

With what appears to be good blood flow, the boys seem to be developing normally except for their legs and feet. Both have clubfeet, where the soles are turned upward, and one has a dislocated hip, Browne said.

"They're just very crowded in there," he said.