Conjoined Hamby twins survive childbirth, welcomed by family

ATLANTA --

Seven months ago, when an ultrasound revealed Robin Hamby was carrying conjoined twins, she and her husband, Michael, relied on their faith to decide to continue the pregnancy despite the odds against a joyous outcome.

Thursday, as the sun rose over Northside Hospital in Atlanta, their faith was rewarded.

The parents, both 34, welcomed Asa and Eli into the world. And although doctors still were trying to understand the medical complications from the twins' joint heart, the sun set with the family full of hope that they would bring these boys home to Ladonia, Ala.

According to the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, conjoined twins occur once in every 50,000 to 60,000 births and most are stillborn.

Statistics from the University of Mary

land Medical Center are additionally daunting: 35 percent of conjoined twins survive only one day, the overall survival rate is between 5 percent and 25 percent, and female conjoined twins are three times more likely than males to be born alive.

Even more unusual is how the Hamby boys are connected, side by side, a category among the least common types of conjoined twins. They have one trunk and one set of arms and legs but two separate heads. The technical term is dicephalic parapagus. Their combined heart prevents them from being separated.

Day begins in prayer

About a dozen family and friends gathered around Robin in her hospital room Thursday morning. The Rev. Tim Harris, pastor of The Verge Church in Columbus, led the gathering in prayer.

"Lord, You say we have not because we ask not," he said. "So guess what, Lord? We come asking today. We ask You because, ultimately, Your will is going to be done. We say that these babies are going to be fine, these babies are going to be healthy, these babies are going to have very few if any complications. We just declare that by Your stripes."

About half an hour later, Asa and Eli were born alive, a combined 9 pounds, 10 ounces, at 7:32 a.m. Both were crying, and mama was doing fine. The only complication the nurse reported was that the babies needed bag masks to support their breathing.

"It's joy, relief," said Cindy Kirby, Robin's stepmother.

"Now, I'm waiting to hear that they're OK with everything else," said Michael's father, David Hamby.

Michael, the proud papa, came into the waiting room with more details.

"They are doing good, color good," he said. "Breathing on their own. They put a tube in their umbilical cord to put IV fluid in them."

The twins were undergoing various tests.

"We're still not out of the woods," said Michael, a hydrant valve technician for the Columbus Water Works.

Asked how he was feeling, Michael said, "I'm still scared. They're doing good, but "

He didn't finish the sentence. When he left the waiting room, he said, "Y'all keep on praying for them. Things still can happen."

Nonetheless, family and friends were buoyed when Michael showed them video of the twins he recorded on his cellphone.

"They look like normal babies," David said. "You have to take a second to realize there are two heads there."

The twins' other grandfather, Robin's father, Jerry Kirby, sighed and said, "I'm relieved a good bit. Still a million questions, but glad that we've got to this point."

Pastor Tim summed up the feeling in the waiting room: "God's will was done, and I'm certainly glad it lined up with what we were hoping for."

Laughter turns to concern

At around 9 a.m., family and friends were allowed to visit Robin while the twins were going through tests elsewhere in the hospital.

Before the cesarean section delivery, Robin worried that she wouldn't be able to see Asa and Eli before they were whisked away.

"But they brought them up to me," said Robin, on leave from her nursing jobs at Regional Rehabilitation Hospital and Parkwood Healthcare, both in Phenix City. "They were so cute, and I was like, 'Where did they get those chins from?'"

The room filled with laughter, and Robin added, "That was my first thought, and they sounded like little kitty cats crying."

More laughter. Then a cause for caution.

A nurse came in and told Michael the babies had to be intubated because they need more help breathing. They also were given medication for their joint heart.

"Because they weren't oxygenating really well," the nurse said, "they're a little concerned there might be something going on with the heart."

Michael said, "So when can I go back over there and see them?"

"Give us about 15 minutes," the nurse replied.

David rocked in a chair in the waiting room. In tribute to his grandsons, he wore a T-shirt emblazoned, "Two souls sharing one heart."

"Once I saw them crying, I was really hopeful, but this is putting a little fear into me now, that they might not make it," he said. "I'm still processing that now. I'm processing a lot."

Heart complications

At around 10:15 a.m., Robin talked on her cellphone with one of the doctors attending to Asa and Eli in the neonatal intensive care unit. She said the doctor told her "there is an issue with the right side of the heart.

The left side is perfect. The right side has like an extra atrium and an extra ventricle, and there's two aortas. One of the arteries is like switched, not in the right place because of having extra ones, but he said that their vital signs are stable."

As planned, Asa and Eli were prepped to be transferred by ambulance to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, where specialists could do more extensive testing, Robin said. Before then, the conjoined twins were going to be brought to Robin's room so the family and friends could see them.

"They're stable enough to do that," Robin said.

'Lord, please heal these babies'

At around 12:20 p.m., Asa and Eli were wheeled into Robin's room for family and friends to see what grandmother Peggy Hamby called "a miracle."

After folks oohed and aahed for a few minutes, David led the group in prayer before the conjoined twins were taken away again: "Lord, please heal these babies. I want to see them grow up to be big and strong like their daddy and their papa."

David's voice cracked with emotion, then he concluded, "Thank you in the name of Jesus."

Later, he explained why he made sure to reach out and touch his grandsons' heads while he prayed.

"I just felt like I could give them some strength to fight," he said.

When the twins and most of the family and friends had left, a nurse gave Robin a hug and said she felt blessed to be part of this birth. It renewed her faith, she said.

'Very hopeful'

At around 5:10 p.m., Michael's sister, Emily Berdeaux, gave an update on the conjoined twins.

Michael and his aunt, Dale Davidson, a nurse for more than 30 years, were meeting with the cardiologist to determine how to approach solving the twins' trouble with getting enough oxygen, Emily said.

"We're sitting on pins and needles like everyone else," said Emily, also a nurse, in the waiting room.

"But what we're so psyched about is the fact that something like 45 percent of conjoined twins are stillborn and we're going on 11 hours and their vital signs are still stable. So considering the circumstances, they are doing phenomenally. I'm sure they will have more challenges, but for them to do this well, it's very hopeful."

Emily called her conjoined nephews, Asa and Eli, "a divine gift from God." And she emphasized why her brother and sister-in-law chose to share their story.

"No. 1, as anybody that knows them, they see this as a ministry," she said. "There hasn't been one video they posted on Facebook where they have haven't given God the glory.

"Also, as Robin said today, this helps the community get used to the boys. So when they do come home, it's not going to be a shock to everybody. They will embrace them."

This story was originally published December 4, 2014 at 11:18 PM with the headline "Conjoined Hamby twins survive childbirth, welcomed by family ."