10-Month-Old Twin Girls Conjoined At The Skull Successfully Separated

Ten-month-old sisters Abigail and Micaela Bachinskiy, who were joined at the skull — in a condition known as craniopagus — are now recuperating at a California hospital after a 24-hour operation, reported Sacramento TV station KCRA.

“It’s a very, very rare anomaly,” explained UC Davis Children’s Hospital pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Edwards. “There are very few children born in any one year worldwide that have this anomaly, and of those, there’s only a much smaller subset that the anatomy is fortuitous enough to be able to attempt a separation — and hopefully come out with two healthy babies.”

Parents Liliya Miroshnik and Anatoliy Bachinskiy discovered the twins were conjoined during their first trimester.

“It was very tough. I just was shocked. I couldn’t process,” recalled Miroshnik. “When I got home, my husband said that everything will be good. We will get through it. This is our kids. We already love them.”

The couple, who has been married 10 years, also has three young boys, according to KCRA.

Surgeons prepared extensively before the scheduled operation, including implementing a tissue expander four months prior to ensure each twin had enough skin following separation.

“They both are really happy babies. Not fussy ones. Very happy, always laughing, smiling, positive,” noted Miroshnik. “(They are) very different. One is more dominating. But the other is more like a lady — very calm, very gentle. But the other is very active. She is a leader for sure.”

The girls will spend at least several weeks at the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit.

For now, the twins’ brave mother is turning to her faith for their health.

“No one knows how it’s going to end because it is very unique, and it all depends how they will go, what their bodies will go through,” Miroshnik stated. “I have a feeling everything will be OK. It’s all in God’s hands. It’s not even in doctors’ hands. That what I believe.”