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| 2 year old Egyptian conjoined twin boys separated successfully in 2003 |
A teenager has become the youngest British woman ever to give birth to Siamese twins.
Laura Williams, 18, had the healthy though conjoined twin girls called Faith and Hope by Caesarean section.
Laura, 18 and her husband, Aled, 28, from Anglesey, were advised by doctors to abort the twins when scans revealed they were conjoined at their 12-week scan.
Only about five per cent of conjoined twins survive the first 24 hours, but because they are joined at the front, doctors say chances of a successful separation are good.
Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, Laura said: 'It's scary every day and it's been the hardest decision of our lives, but if they're meant to be in this world and if they've come this far, we've got to hope they'll make it the rest of the way. We called them Hope and Faith because I'm always hoping everything's going to be all right and Mum says she's got faith in it being all right. We decided against abortion because our religion is dead against that sort of thing anyway."
Conjoined or Siamese Twins occur in about one in every 400,000 live births. Over the past 500 years, just over 600 surviving sets of conjoined twins have been recorded.
Both Aled and Laura say they knew they would always end up together but their fate was sealed when Laura became pregnant with their daughter Carly, now 18 months old.
November 2008 | 
Measles On The Up
