Woman gives birth to siamese twins

By Sharon Kavhu

A Kadoma woman has given birth to siamese twins. 

Siamese twins are defined by medical experts as a pair of identical twins born with their bodies joined at some point, a result of the incomplete division of the ovum the twins developed from.

Such twins are rare. Occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50 000 births to 1 in 200 000 births.

“I am leaving everything in God’s hands,” said a shocked Ms Susan Shonhiwa (27), who delivered at Chegutu District Hospital on Wednesday last week but has since been transferred to Harare Central Hospital for further medical examinations.

The babies were born in the afternoon with one body that has two hearts, four lungs, two ribs, two backbones, two arms, two legs and a male sexual organ.

When The Sunday Mail visited Harare Central Hospital, the mother was still recovering from the caesarian surgical operation.

“Although I have accepted what happened, my heart and mind are still overburdened,” she said.

“I don’t know what to think and how things are going end so I am just waiting for the full report from medical specialists. I have surrendered everything to God.”

She said nurses were afraid of informing her about the babies’ condition.

“When the nurses told me about the condition, they referred me here (Harare General Hospital).

Her husband, Mr Mabvuto Bero, has been very supportive but concedes that he, too, is perplexed.

“In my whole life I have never witnessed something like this and it is still hard for me to face the reality even after the counselling we received from doctors,” Mr Bero said emotionally.

“I am finding it difficult even to name the baby because I am not sure whether the baby is single or they are twins . . . I don’t know what is going to happen next.

“The doctors have so far established that the heads, hearts and lungs function separately while the organs join from the waist to the bottom.

“They told me that there is need for further assessment as they have not yet figured how the intestines are functioning.” Currently, the babies are in an incubator in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit where several medical assessments are being done.

The nurse in charge, Sister Swanepoel Hedwick, said: “We are currently keeping the babies in the incubator for easy monitoring of the temperatures and oxygen.” Sunday Mail