Three-week-old Carter and Conner Mirabal, who were born with their chests and abdomens connected, successfully underwent an operation to split their small intestine on Friday at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.
The twin boys were born on December 12 to Michelle Brantley and fiancé Bryan Mirabal at UF Health Jacksonville via Caesarean section.
"They're doing wonderful," Brantley said. "They are breathing on their own and doing wonderful. We're holding up really good and taking it day by day."
According to the Florida Times-Union, Friday's surgery not only partially separated the babies' small intestine, but also removed a swollen section of the intestine and sealed part of the babies' abdominal walls that was open.
The doctors also found out during the operation that aside from the infants' livers, their bile ducts were also fused.
The twins, who have been fed by IV since their birth, will now be able to receive nutrients from breast milk or formula by mouth or by tube possibly within a week, according to the Wolfson Children's Hospital.
Meanwhile, their family's spirits are high after the positive outcome of the procedure on the twins.
"They can receive food and we can hold them," Jasmine Mirabal, the boys' aunt, said. "Michelle was able to hold them for the first time New Year's Eve for their baptism, and she got to hold them for an hour."
"They're our miracle babies," Mirabal also told News4Jax. "They really are. We weren't promised their lives. God gave them to us. As crazy as this has all been, it's not a burden to us, it's a blessing."
The family has set up a Facebook page for the twins under the name Prayers for Carter & Conner and they are regularly posting updates on the boys' condition and asking for prayers and support.
The twins' final surgery, which will separate the babies' livers and bile ducts, is set about six months from now. Doctors are optimistic for the two boys.
"We do believe in time that they will successfully be able to be separated," Dr. Daniel Robie, a pediatric surgeon at Wolfson, told reporters.
Carter and Conner are omphalopagus twins, joined at the abdomen. This kind of conjoined twins statistically has the highest survival rate since liver tissue can be easily regenerated by the body.
A GoFundMe page for the boys can be accessed here
