Woman gives birth to conjoined twins in Colorado

Author: Associated Press
Published: Updated:
Credit: MGN

AURORA, Colo. (AP) – A woman who gave birth to conjoined twins in Colorado told a TV station Thursday that one of her daughters has survived.

Amber McCullough delivered the twin girls by cesarean section on Wednesday, KARE-TV in Minneapolis reported (http://kare11.tv/1IkwlUB). The mother is a Hastings, Minnesota, native and has been talking to the station about her ordeal.

McCullough told the station Hannah is alive but in critical condition. The TV station did not report on the fate of twin Olivia, who was not expected to survive.

Children’s Hospital Colorado said Thursday morning it could not confirm that the birth had happened.

The twins shared an abdomen, liver and intestinal tract. The girls had separate hearts and kidneys.

“I would like everyone to know, and for the message to be read that Hannah did survive the surgery. However, she is very critical and very delicate,” McCullough wrote the station.

McCullough earlier said that Olivia was not expected to survive because of her heart. She only had a single ventricle and was missing valves.

Conjoined twins happen once every 200,000 live births, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, which says between 40 to 60 percent arrive stillborn.

McCullough said she spent eight years in the U.S. Army, then went to law school and is now an attorney. She has a 6-year-old son named Tristan from a previous relationship that ended in divorce. She said her son is moving to Denver to be with her soon.

She became pregnant with her girls during another relationship, and it wasn’t until her second trimester when she learned she was carrying conjoined twins. The relationship with the girls’ dad ended shortly thereafter.

McCullough has lived at the Ronald McDonald House in Aurora since early August. Her stepmother is there, keeping her company and caring for her.

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