{"id":261459,"date":"2022-01-26T08:43:58","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T14:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=261459"},"modified":"2022-01-28T17:26:51","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T23:26:51","slug":"conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/","title":{"rendered":"Conjoined twins separated after intricate surgery: &#8216;God gave us these girls for a reason&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>Maggie Altobelli was 20 weeks pregnant when during a routine ultrasound, doctors gave her blindsiding news. She discovered that she and her husband Dom were going to have twins \u2014 and those twin girls were conjoined at the abdomen and chest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a surprise and it was very shocking,\u201d Altobelli told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.today.com\/parents\/babies\/twins-conjoined-abdomen-thriving-separation-surgery-rcna12941\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TODAY Parents<\/a>. \u201cBut, we just thought that God gave us these girls for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Altobellis were determined to do everything they could to make sure their girls, Addison and Lilianna, were well cared for. That meant moving from their home in Chicago to Philadelphia so that they could receive treatment at Children&#8217;s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where doctors had experience separating conjoined twins.<\/p>\n<p>Altobelli said in a video put out by the hospital, &#8220;We got to move, we got to dedicate our lives to bringing these girls into the world and give them a good life and give them a good chance, and that&#8217;s what CHOP did give us, this chance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/video\/embed\/?pid=11496298\" width=\"640\" height=\"355\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Prenatal tests revealed that the twins shared a liver and diaphragm, but not a heart. This was good news, as it gave doctors hope that the twins could be separated successfully.\u00a0\u201cThe (scans) are your first clues about whether or not babies are going to be separated,\u201d Dr. Holly Hedrick, one of the surgeons, told TODAY Parents. \u201cThe biggest factor is really the heart and whether the heart is conjoined.\u201d Still, the Altobellis knew the girls were facing a high-risk surgery.<\/p>\n<p>After the twins were born, they were immediately whisked to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) for medical treatment. While separation surgery was always on the horizon, the girls first needed to grow before their bodies would be ready to withstand the procedure. Hendrick explained that they also underwent tissue expansion, which allowed them to grow extra skin since they were sharing a chest and abdomen. The skin was later grafted on after surgery.<\/p>\n<p>The girls did face some medical complications in the early days. Because they shared a chest \u2014 and a diaphragm \u2014 crying and breathing became difficult at times.\u00a0\u201cIf Lily got upset \u2026 she would (control) the breathing,\u201d Maggie said. \u201cThere were times where Addy had coded because she couldn\u2019t breathe because Lily would get upset.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wiggling-toes-less-invasive-spina-bifida-surgery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>\u2018She\u2019s wiggling her toes\u2019: New, less invasive spina bifida surgery a big success for Abigail<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The twins were finally ready for surgery nearly 11 months after they were born. A team of a dozen surgeons worked for 10 hours to separate them in an incredibly difficult procedure that involved separating the liver and dividing the diaphragm. The happy parents know the time down to the minute when they were told that their girls had made it through.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was very surreal, just very emotional. The whole day was very peaceful and we kind of just gave it to God \u2014 and we\u2019ve done that throughout this whole journey,\u201d Altobelli said. \u201cWe\u2019re just so lucky to have surgeons who know what they\u2019re doing and really worked hard and cared for our girls like they were their own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two months later, the Altobellis were finally able to leave CHOP and return to their Chicago home. Addy and Lily both require breathing tubes and a vent, but doctors are hopeful they&#8217;ll be able to one day breathe on their own.\u00a0\u201cThis is our journey. It\u2019s a very special one in many ways,\u201d Altobelli said. \u201cThese girls are going to live long, healthy lives. It\u2019s pretty miraculous and unbelievable that we\u2019re living this life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dom agreed about the impact his daughters have had already. &#8220;They have already given us more than love than we could have ever imagined,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We hope they can spread that love throughout the world.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveactionnewsonline\/\">\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maggie Altobelli was 20 weeks pregnant when during a routine ultrasound, doctors gave her blindsiding news. She discovered that she and her husband Dom were going to have twins \u2014 and those twin girls were conjoined at the abdomen and chest. \u201cIt was a surprise and it was very shocking,\u201d Altobelli told TODAY Parents. \u201cBut, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":261488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[9455,3473,9459],"tags":[15404,15402,15403,3003,15400,15401,4592,7474],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Conjoined twins separated after intricate surgery: &#039;God gave us these girls for a reason&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Maggie and Dom learned their preborn daughters were conjoined, they uprooted their lives to get them the care they needed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conjoined twins separated after intricate surgery: &#039;God gave us these girls for a reason&#039;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Maggie and Dom learned their preborn daughters were conjoined, they uprooted their lives to get them the care they needed.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-26T14:43:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-28T23:26:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/conjoined-twins.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bridget Sielicki\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bridget Sielicki\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bridget Sielicki\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f\"},\"headline\":\"Conjoined twins separated after intricate surgery: &#8216;God gave us these girls for a reason&#8217;\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-26T14:43:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-28T23:26:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/\"},\"wordCount\":650,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Addison and Lilianna\",\"Children's Hospital of Philadelphia\",\"CHOP\",\"conjoined twins\",\"Dr. Holly Hedrick\",\"Maggie altobelli\",\"NICU\",\"TODAY\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Human Interest\",\"Newsbreak\",\"Top Story on Homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/\",\"name\":\"Conjoined twins separated after intricate surgery: 'God gave us these girls for a reason'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-26T14:43:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-28T23:26:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"When Maggie and Dom learned their preborn daughters were conjoined, they uprooted their lives to get them the care they needed.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Conjoined twins separated after intricate surgery: &#8216;God gave us these girls for a reason&#8217;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f\",\"name\":\"Bridget Sielicki\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bridget Sielicki\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/bridget-sielicki\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Conjoined twins separated after intricate surgery: 'God gave us these girls for a reason'","description":"When Maggie and Dom learned their preborn daughters were conjoined, they uprooted their lives to get them the care they needed.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Conjoined twins separated after intricate surgery: 'God gave us these girls for a reason'","og_description":"When Maggie and Dom learned their preborn daughters were conjoined, they uprooted their lives to get them the care they needed.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2022-01-26T14:43:58+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-01-28T23:26:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/conjoined-twins.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Bridget Sielicki","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bridget Sielicki","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/"},"author":{"name":"Bridget Sielicki","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f"},"headline":"Conjoined twins separated after intricate surgery: &#8216;God gave us these girls for a reason&#8217;","datePublished":"2022-01-26T14:43:58+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-28T23:26:51+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/"},"wordCount":650,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["Addison and Lilianna","Children's Hospital of Philadelphia","CHOP","conjoined twins","Dr. Holly Hedrick","Maggie altobelli","NICU","TODAY"],"articleSection":["Human Interest","Newsbreak","Top Story on Homepage"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/","name":"Conjoined twins separated after intricate surgery: 'God gave us these girls for a reason'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-01-26T14:43:58+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-28T23:26:51+00:00","description":"When Maggie and Dom learned their preborn daughters were conjoined, they uprooted their lives to get them the care they needed.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conjoined-twins-separated-surgery-god-gave\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Conjoined twins separated after intricate surgery: &#8216;God gave us these girls for a reason&#8217;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, &amp; Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/354818e37fca891455094342cfaacf2f","name":"Bridget Sielicki","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf04f4b8f1370c0d4ec72e4c6913a37?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Bridget Sielicki"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/bridget-sielicki\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261459"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/607"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261459"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261525,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261459\/revisions\/261525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}